Month: May 2012

We didn’t have Kaiah and Maisie because Maisie had a check up, but this week is the last week that we have the girls until after the summer. I have been dreading this week for a while but I refused to let that get us depressed. We spent the day out of the house! First we went to the pool and we were there for a long time! Ciara is now jumping into the water, fearless and Caleb is a pro diver! We had lots of fun! Im surprised how independent Ciara is in the water. I put some floaters on her and she pushes me away. I remember Caleb used to be my little cling on and wouldn’t leave my side. He is still scared to go where he can’t touch but we are working on treading water.

After the pool we got dressed and took the dog for a walk around the lake. We stopped at the swings for a little while. I told Caleb to grab his fishing pole. We didn’t have any live bait, we did try to catch a grasshopper but with his Mommy a little jumpy around bugs it didn’t work out. He didn’t catch anything, which to be honest I was a little glad since Im not sure what we would have done if he did. I have cleaned a fish and what not back in the day but after I had my kids, germs seem everywhere and touching a fish just seems icky now.

They have killed off some of the weeds down by the lake now so we could go where we couldn’t before. We found an abundance of small fish swimming! Caleb was all excited! I told him to try to catch one! He got all muddy but he had so much fun trying. He didn’t catch any, but we found a lonely teenager who was also fishing and he caught these little fish with ease. Caleb was jumping up and down and was just so excited. They put the fish in an old ziplock bag they found.

Meanwhile Ciara and I threw rocks in the lake. I never thought throwing rocks was ever fun but with Ciara we really enjoyed ourselves. This teenager we met taught us how to skip rocks and he was really good at it. Ciara didn’t seem to get enough of throwing rocks, we will defiantly do this again. There were lots of giggles.

Simbia thought Calebs bobber on his fishing pole was a ball and almost jumped in to get it, but he chickened out. When we got home I popped popcorn and we watched a movie. I love how Ciara just adores her big brother! I was determined to make our day a great one and I think we did it! We live in such a great neighborhood! So much to do all in walking distance! This summer is going to rock!

Over the weekend we had some running around in Orem we had to do and I wanted the kids to get some energy out. We decided to go to the University Mall in Orem. Before we moved Caleb and I would walk to the mall and just hang out there, but at that time they didn’t have any play place for kids. They started building a tree house right before we left and now its finished. They have a big tree that has a slide and stairs going up and down, and dinosaur bones that the kids can climb on. Its pretty cool. They also have a wall thats painted up in a fairy tale landscape. Its beautiful.

Caleb made a friend with a girl that he ran around with. He has always been really good at making friends. He has recently become a little timid but once he realizes that he can have more fun with other kids he is pretty good about asking for a playmate. Ciara on the other hand became very uncomfortable when anyone would come close to her. I had to coax her to the slide and if I left her side she freaked out and ran back to me. We finally convinced her to follow her big brother and then she started to have lots of fun. Caleb and Ciara are similar in many ways but personality wise they are very different. We later went to the mall in Sandy to another play place and Ciara made friends quick. She hung out in a log with another two year old and just talked. But the log was right next to Ben and I, and whenever another kid came over she left. So she is picky with the company she keeps. Thats ok with me 🙂

Kaiah and Ciara get along so well. Sometimes they fight but I think they are just learning from each other. Ciara has picked up lots of speech from Kaiah and Kaiah has picked up lots of goofy things Ciara does. I remember fighting with my best friend, and those were the best fights. They are both still learning how to share and it comes with some ups and downs. But they just love each other so much. Every morning Ciara asks me about Kaiah and Maisie. When we don’t have them she asks through out the day. Kaiah calls her moms mom Grandma Wee Wee (for Marie). Ciara just loves this name and her Grandma. Recently she has been telling everyone (including new friends at the pool and park) that Grandma Wee Wee goes poop in the potty. Grandma Wee Wee has been picking up the girls on Thursdays and I believe thats what started this. Its pretty funny when she gets on the phone with her Grandma Payne and the first thing she says is “Wee Wee go poop in potty!” Ciara has also started to really like more of big bird and Mickey (she actually says Minnie but its Mickey) which is a great change from Elmo. We still read the Elmo book most nights but we are starting to open up to new things.

Caleb had his last day of school Friday, which was just a party. They danced and had popsicles. We had a discussion about what will happen over the summer and when school starts back he most likely won’t see these same friends. At first he seemed a little upset but he said he will just get a new girlfriend. He got a picture with his teacher and her aid.

Caleb and Ciara helped me make a strawberry cake to celebrate Calebs graduation. I gave Ciara the spoon for the frosting and Caleb the left over bowl of shredded white chocolate. Sometimes I think they are just the happiest kids on the planet! The little things really do mean the world to them. One spoon of frosting and left over chocolate shavings kept these two kids giggling for almost an hour. 🙂

Ben took off Friday but he was gone all day. He has been working really hard on finding a new job. He had two interviews today. Im so proud of him! He is such a stud muffin! I love the orange tie on him! I bought it and at first he hated it because he already has red hair but he wore it on an interview and someone commented on how great it looked and now its his favorite tie 🙂

Caleb and Ciara went upstairs while I was folding laundry and Ciara wanted to read a dinosaur book. I suggested to Caleb to try to read it to his sister because he knew so much about dinosaurs. He sat down and showed her all the dinosaurs he knew the names to. It was adorable!

The last couple days have seemed like Friday… all of them. In the morning the kids all asked for a movie, and Ciara demanded Elmo so all the kids were hanging out watching Elmo. Ciara i speaking so well now and counting, and I blame Elmo. Love that furry little monster. We also spent a while coloring. Caleb and I drew a big family picture and then made and I <3 u and hung them in the garage so when Daddy came home he had a big welome sign for him. Caleb also worked on some worksheets and did great. He is really good at math! His addition is great!

I was changing baby Maisie the other day when the girls disappeared. I panicked for a moment and heard some giggling coming from my garage. The girls were in the dark garage sitting on the bikes laughing at each other. It ended up being something they loved to do. I didnt like it. So… I did the grown up thing to do and I told the girls that when the lights are off in the garage the monster comes out. Sometimes the girls will stand by the door and say “Monster in there!” I dont think they are actually scared but they dont want to try to prove me wrong. When I ask the girls to go outside to get in the van they wont go in there until I open the garage, thats when the monster hides. They always giggle when they talk about the monster. 🙂

Ciara and Caleb played in the water for a little while. Ciara found a watering can and was unsure to use it.  I caught her throwing it at the water. Big brother helped her fill it up and then showed her how to pour it. Ciara has also been using the potty so well! She picks what days she wants to try or not and she tells me in the morning if she wants undies or a diaper. Pretty cool.

We have seen some amazing birds in our area. These two birds were right behind our backyard. They were huge!

After three years of preschool (he got into preschool early but couldn’t go into kindergarten this last year because his birthday is in October) he has finally graduated! Im so proud of him!! He is so smart and totally ready for kindergarten. His school held a graduation ceremony at a park with a stage. The weather turned pretty fast and it was cold. But the kids did great!

Calebs class singing

Caleb standing next to Layla

They said all their letters with their sounds and lots of nursery rhymes with actions. Then Teacher Jenifer passed out their certificates. They got to wear little graduation hate and even a trash bag gown. They all looked so great! We asked both sets of his grandparents to come watch. (Grandpa Walker was feeling sick) I wanted to make it a big deal!

Caleb and Laya

Caleb and buddy Maze

After they performed we took pictures and then Layla wanted to play on the slides with Caleb. It was so cute! She kept saying “Come on Caleb!” She even held his hand running around the park. You can tell he was pretty shy. He is very excited to start his new school soon. He wants to be an Anthropologist or a Doctor. He is so great at math and he is starting to read. Im just so proud!!

This photo > is from last year! He has grown so much!

Lookin like Aaron

My Dad brought over some clippers so that we could trim Bens hair so he will be ready for any interviews. I will be the first to admit that I am SO bad at this! We dont have the extra money to pay someone to do it, and I asked for help but it came down to me cutting Bens hair. I trimmed it first but he loves being bald. I think he looks older, but I fell in love with my smeng bald. I didnt think I would like it but he looks great! There is one downfall, you can now see all his scars from his brain surgeries. It reminds me of all the feelings I had when I thought I might lose him. Makes me just want to hold him and never let him go. He trimmed his beard and he is now all ready to impress!

After

Before

I had no plans on giving Caleb a haircut. But after I cut Bens hair he begged me to cut his hair, and he wanted it just like his Daddys. So now I have two bald men in my life 😉


After I cut the two boys hair I felt like I was on a roll. I was already covered in hair so I decided to take on the dog. He is now shaved like a lion.. or at least thats what I was going for. There is a golden retriever in our neighborhood who has a haircut like a lion and I stopped his owner a couple of days ago and asked how he did it. Simbia was so good! I think he wanted a haircut too, he just laid there in my lap and listened to my every command. Hopefully this week I can get a better picture of him. 


After the haircuts we watched a movie. Ciara cuddled up to her Daddy. She also got into some peanut butter today, both hands right into the jar. She was covered in it, but because she was naked I couldnt post the pictures. Ben and I rough housed with the kids on the trampoline and that was the most I have laughed in a long time. I have so much fun with Ben. He may look smaller then me but he is one tough cookie ;p

This morning we went on a 4 mile walk with the kids. Ciara walked the first mile completely. Then she was in and out of the stroller and ended up napping right before we got home. 

Our backyard view of the moon covering the sun

Today around 6:20pm the moon slid between the Earth and the sun giving the moon a glow around the edges. Pretty cool, the last time I remember seeing one was in grade school. I got a call from my brother and father reminding me to look for it. Ben set up some papers to catch the reflection so we could see it. My kids are still pretty young to understand but it was really neat for Ben and I to see it!

We were invited to Jeremiah’s 30th birthday party! It was a surprise party, but I guess his little two year old spilled the beans! Jer is a big time BYU football fan so the party had a BYU tailgate theme that included apple beers and little smokies. We were all encouraged to wear BYU stuff. Im a little embarrassed to say that we dont own (other then jackets) any BYU clothes, like at all. We barely had blue. But we managed to get everyone in white or kind of blue attire. It was really fun! I guess Marie and Kamie (Jers mother and sister-in-law) planned it. Kasie took him out to see the Avengers (which is super awesome!) and when he came home we were all there to say Surprise and sing Happy Birthday!

It was great to see everyone! The kids had a great time running around and being the life of the party! It was great company with all the adult conversation! Everyone enjoyed their time I think. I got the task of putting BYU tattoos on everyone. Oh yeah, Im pro 🙂 Perfect company and great food = Great Birthday Party! Cant believe Jer is 30….

Before the party I took the kids to the park while Ben worked on his project. Ciara almost fell asleep on the swings. She didnt want to leave. And Caleb pretended to kill a big dinosaur! We came home with ice cream cones and Ben accomplished quite a bit.

That night Grandpa came to visit and played hard with Caleb and Ciara and Caleb’s friend Aidan. They played a great game of kickball, the
boys won. They all played in the water for a while but the real fun
happened inside when Grandpa chased the boys with pillows! It was so funny to watch them run and giggle from the big mean monster squishing them with pillows! Needless to say it was a busy day and everyone is tired! WOOT for happy days!

While I was getting ready this morning I got a picture of Ciara copying me while I put on my makeup. She always sits in the sink while I do her hair every morning. Then she will watch me get ready. Sometimes she plays with our toothbrushes or pretend to spray hairspray in her hair or follow me putting on makeup. She knows what eye liner is and where it goes and everything. The only thing that I let her actually put on is some glitter powder that goes all over your face. She looked so cute putting it on herself. It always amazes me how pretty my little girl is. 🙂

Today we had a beautiful lightning and thunderstorm. Calebs friend came over for a little while before school and I turned off all of the lights and we watched the lightning. The thunder was loud. The kids all grabbed weapons and watched the rain out the window. It was pretty exciting. Every time we would hear thunder all the kids would giggle and hide together.

Caleb was a total stud muffin. He loves to have friends over! Today him and his buddy brought up all the light sabers (which added to the weapon collection for the storm) and the kids battled it out. Sword fights are way better then gun fights.
Like always Ciara smothered baby Maisie with love. I put a princess pull up on Ciara today and I was trying to explain what princesses were. The only thing I could think of was “You are a princess, just like Kaiah and Maisie!” So now if I mention the word princess she says “Kai Kai and baby Maisie.” I think I missed the point to that.. hehe. Kaiah has been saying Calebs name a little silly. She says “Tibalt” like from Shakespeare. I like it.

I also got to see my honey for lunch today! I Love Fridays!

Ciara coloring with chalk

Me and the girls!

Ciara cried a lot this Thursday. Even when she first woke up she was just whiney and would not leave my side. When we first got home from picking up the girls my girlfriend came over and brought some chalk. The kids loves to write all over my driveway with the chalk. They got pretty messy, Kaiahs face was so dirty! They loved the chalk so much that when we came inside the girls tried to color the carpet with the chalk. They also like to crawl in and out of the van. Im not sure why this is so fun… but whatever makes the kids happy 🙂 Caleb played with his buddy for a while.

Kaiahs dirty face

The kids played in the water for a short time, but the clouds rolled in pretty fast. Then it became a perfect day, not to hot or cold. The kids jumped on the trampoline and played in the tents. Kaiah and Ciara had a couple of fights, not really any reason for them. I think Ciara was just having a bad day. I got a picture of her pointing at Kaiah and telling Caleb that Kaiah is mean. Kaiah just wanted to brush Ciara hair a little harder then Ciara wanted. She did however use the potty all day! It was really hard to keep clothes on this girl! She would pull at her clothes and say “Nene!” for naked. At first I didnt understand what she wanted and she got really mad at me.

 

Caleb and Ciara

Thank you

My vacuum stopped working, which is just hell with so many kids running around. My Dad came to visit and fixed it! I dont know what I would do without a handy Daddy to fix all my household problems! Caleb did a great job helping his Grandpa, and was rewarded with a game of kickball.

Baby Maisie

The day ended with a fit from Ciara and a model pose from Caleb with my shades. Ciara cried for a whole 20 minuetes in her Daddys arms for no real reason. I think she didnt feel well and she was tired. Caleb got really upset to see his sister so sad. He started crying, he loves her so much. She finally fell asleep in Daddys arms as soon as she calmed down. She has started to pretend to throw up when she gets really mad. She did this lots today. It was a long day for everyone, especially little Ciara.

My dog Simbia just hillin

The last few days have been great water days! My parents found a couple of gently used toys including a giant tent that the kids love to play in. It gets super warm in the tent so they like to play in the water and either lay out on the trampoline or run inside the hot tent to warm up. My parents also got us a slip and slide and I swear this is the greatest invention ever made! I remember as a kid spending all day playing with the neighborhood kids on our slip and slide. I also put a sprinkler under the trampoline which was great fun. It slowly moves back and forth and the kids stomp on the trampoline and run from the water that squirts up from beneath. The water also makes a really cool rain look from the underside, I caught Caleb trying to drink from the “rain” droplets. Pretty gross… but fun.

Because the grass is fresh cut there are bits of grass everywhere so when the kids get wet it sticks to them and then it goes wherever they go. (including inside the house, but what can you do?) Ciara was jumping and all of a sudden she screamed with fear. I grabbed for her and she said in the most sad voice “bug!” as she pointed to the pieces of grass on her arms and legs. I tried to explain that it was only grass but she wouldnt calm down until I washed it all off. Then Caleb showed her that he and Kaiah both had grass on them and she was ok with the grass. But if any kind of fluff moved from a breeze she would run and scream bug!
Caleb is just pro when it comes to that slip and slide. He gets going really fast. He tried to get Kaiah to go, she ran up to it but then just sat down when she came to the blue, and she screamed a little when the squirting water hit her face. Kaiah and Ciara would clap for Caleb every time he would go down it. Maisie sat in the bouncer enjoying the shade. Maisie can roll from her back to her tummy and from her tummy to her back.

This Morning:

I cleaned out the garage and for some reason there were tons of the kids clothes hidden in there, including these super cute pjs. We woke up this morning and I couldnt help but take pictures of the kids in their super cute pajamas. We found this man size footie spiderman pjs (they ended up being to hot tonight and he ended up sleeping in undies) but he just looks so darn cute. Ciara has a one piece (which she is quickly growing out of 🙁 ) but its pink cameo, to make her papa proud. Ciara went to give Caleb a big kiss but this morning she woke up with a little runny nose so Caleb asked me to wipe her nose before he got a snot kiss. I got a pic of him saying EWWW!

This morning we played on the bikes before Caleb had to go to school. Kaiah loves the little trickle we have. She can peddle all by herself. Ciara will ride on the one that I can push, she will sometimes put her feet on the peddles but I dont think she is ready to peddle yet. She is almost completely off of bottles, and she did it all by herself. I am a full believer that a child will grow up when they feel its right and she has totally taken a big step in becoming a big girl. She has started eating a lot more then she ever has. She has also been using the potty when she wants to. Today she used it all afternoon. Im really proud of her.

I had to move the van back into the garage today after doing some sweeping and Ciara helped me. She loves to sit in the drivers seat. Today she climbed all over in the van. She got into her carseat and sat there for a couple of minuetes playing with the seat belt and then when she climbed out she put her baby in her car seat, and even buckled her in. She loves to make the blinkers go and pretend to steer. I used to beg my parents to let me drive when I was young, I still love to drive. I like to think she got that from me 🙂

Caleb telling me his story of his Lego game

Today was teacher parent conference for my little stud muffin. He will be graduating pre-school in a week and a half. They test him at the end of the year to see if he is ready for kindergarten and he got a check and a plus on everything. She said he knows all his letters with their sounds, all the shapes, colors, recognize numbers, count to 100, and so much more! Im so proud of my little man! She said he will most likely be a great reader because he tries to sound words out instead of just remembering what certain words look like which is a great skill. We went to Walmart today to pick up some groceries the whole time we were spelling words. He sounded words out and would figure out how to spell them by himself. It amazes me how smart he is, he was just this small bundle of love who depended on me for everything and now he is ready to go to elementary school. He says he wants to be a doctor. I told him he would need to be good at math and science and he said math wasnt a problem. He is so confident and happy all the time…. I am just so proud.

Every Morning the kids watch Elmo in the chair in my room. Love it!

Caleb also has very good social skills. He was telling me how they decided who could go to whos birthday parties. He said “If someone does something that is nice to me then I tell them they can come to my birthday party. But if they are mean or do something that I dont like then I tell them they cant come. And everyone does it. Nathan told me that I couldnt go to his birthday party so I told him he cant go to mine.” Seems logical right? He also told me that his girlfriends mother does not like me. (Not real sure why… ) Anyway, I cant wait to see what he becomes. And yet it feels like time is flying. I have had two mental meltdowns thinking about my home being empty of kids. I only have the two for now and one will be off to school during the day. I had all these plans when my kids started going to school, and Im just not ready. Im so proud of him but I want to keep him forever!

Ciara mad at her Mama