St. George Rodeo

Our awesome neighbor L'Deane invited us to go to the rodeo with her. She usually takes just Truman and Tacy, but we were all excited to go. I left Chambers with my parents and we dressed up in our western hear and had a great time. It was really windy and then rained for about 15 minutes but the rest of the night was great weather. Going to the rodeo makes you feel so patriotic and American. I think we might just have to make a tradition out of this!

Cardon managed to step in gum and then get it on his pants.  He was a bit of a wild one there but  of course he was thrilled to see horses, tractors, and trucks.

Updates on the Kids

Tacy is finally getting into the swing of things with school.  I hope writing this post doesn't jinx that.  She had a really hard time the first few weeks of first grade.  She cried almost every day and didn't want to leave me.  To be honest, I didn't really want her to leave either, but I knew it was the best for her.  At one point she even begged me to home school her.  I didn't even know she knew what that was.  She would sob and sometimes be physically ill because she didn't want to go.  I felt bad making her, but I just knew that things would get better.  Luckily she has her best friend Kelly Howard there with her which I think helped a lot.  I'm not entirely sure why she was so upset about going.  I think it was a hard transition going from half day to full day this year.  She is in a new school with many new friend.  I think learning Chinese for half a day was hard and she is used to doing really well in school and felt like she didn't know things.  We had many talks and I reassured her that even though she missed me it was important to go to school.  She asked Truman if he thought about me while he was at school and when he said he really didn't she couldn't believe it.  It made me a little sad too!  The last week or so have been a lot better and she comes home happy every day.  She says she still misses me but she just cries on the inside and sometimes gets a little teary eyed.  When she was crying everyday at school she was so concerned that everyone would think she was a crybaby.  I sure love this little girl of mine!  I hate to see her sad. 

She is reading well and doing well academically.   Usually she already knows her spelling words before I even give her the pretest.  Sometimes she even practices Truman's second grade words.  She is learning lots in Chinese and comes home and tells us the new words and then giggles when we pronounce them wrong.  She enjoys teaching us Chinese at night.  She knows songs, counting, colors, animals, and common phrases.  Cardon even imitates the things she says in Chinese.  Proud of her hard work.  I can't imagine learning a new language at 6.

Truman has made the transition to a new amazingly well.  In typical boy fashion, I can't get him to open up too much about it, but everyday he has fun and talks about all the neat things he is doing in class and all the kids he plays with.  I think he deals with stress and new situations like his father and less like his mother and sister.  I feel bad because I don't know a lot of his new friends but we had a friend over from tennis last week and they played so well.  I love it when they actually play and don't just want to watch T.V. or play games.  They played outside almost the whole time.  I typed up a simple nature scavenger hunt earlier in the week and they were excited to do that.  We also did blindfolded tasting where I gave them something to eat and they had to tell me what it was.  It was nice to see them having so much fun.  Tacy has her little best friend Kelly who she plays with a lot and Truman doesn't have a close friend who lives nearby so I was glad we did this. 

Truman is doing well in school.  His teacher even has ipods in his classroom.  He is an excellent helper and is very dependable.  He does well in spelling and reading, and loves all the science and engineering activities and experiments he does in class.  I am really liking Mrs. Woods.  She seems knowledgeable, structured, organized, and that she really cares about the kids.  Truman has had to work a little harder in math this year because it seems as though his math homework and problems have small details that can't be overlooked.  Jer goes over his homeowrk with him almost every night and helps him get better at not making those careless errors.  He is learning cursive and even though Jer thinks there is not point to learning it (he doesn't say that to Truman), Truman is excited and likes learning something new.  I can always count to Truman to come home and tell me some fact that he learned at school.  Most the time it's new to me as well. 

We always say that Cardon is the cutest little stubborn 2 year old we know.  We get pretty creative in our attempts to convince him to go to the bathroom, eat, clean up his messes, get in the bath, etc.  If Cardon thinks you want him to do something he will definitely choose not to do it.  He can think for himself that's for sure.  He has had quite a few peeing accidents as of late because he won't go on the potty. He also reads people really well and watches and learns everything he can.  He is a little tease and loves to play with the dogs.  He is so good at riding his scooter and does that as often as he can.  He is learning to ride a bike with training wheels and will be flying soon I'm sure.  He can recognize 14 of his letters, knows his colors and can count to 10 most the time.  He is learning to put on his own underwear and clean up his messes.  He still likes baby Chambers and wants to hug and kiss him, but not hold him.  He helps me clean the house when Chambers is down for a nap and will work right along with me.  One of his favorite things to do is sit and read books with me so I make sure to do that with him everyday.  He likes playing games on my phone and ipad just like his brother and sister.  He is in a phase where he wants to fix everything and is always running out to the garage to get his tools to fix things like Jer. 

Fun with the Big Kids

A couple weeks ago I messed up on the time for Prentice's soccer game.  Not something I like to admit.  Tacy was so sad.  And I felt sad for her.  It was her first game and she had been looking forward to it all week.  To make it up to her I told her and Truman that I would take them to do something fun while the little boys went down for their nap.

We ended up at Laser Mania because the kids had a couple free passes and they had been wanting to go.  They played Laser Tag and went minature golfing.  Tacy kept telling me I was the best mom and it didn't matter that she missed her game.  I have to admit that I had a lot of fun just being with them.  Jer stayed home while the boys napped and got things done around the house.

It was so nice to be able to do things with just them that we decided to stop by the Brigham Young house and take a tour.  I loved being their with them and for scouts Truman was supposed to visit a historical place in his community.  It seemd weird as I sat their with them during the presentation that they were old enough to listen and appreciate a place like this.  They were anxious to tell dad all about it when they got home.

The Sunday Flood

This is old news by now, but I wanted to document our Sunday morning surprise a couple weeks ago.  For once we were happy that the kids woke us up too early on a weekend morning.  Truman ran into our room saying, "the house is flooding!"  Jer rushed out and found out that the line that runs behind the fridge for the ice machine had broken and water was gushing out.  Our whole kitchen, great room, and Truman's room (which is behind the fridge) were completely flooded with water.  We started with trying to soak it up, which we quickly found out was pointless, so Jer headed to Home Depot and rented a vacuum that picks up water and cleans carpets.  He also bought a fan and an industrial mop.  We started by getting everything off the floor so he could start with the vacuum in Truman's room.  You would not believe how many little toys and knick knacks we found under dressers, beds, etc.  It felt like we were moving.  Jer spent many hours just on Truman's room because the carpet was so saturated that once he pulled the water out, more would keep coming up.  He also took a long time on the great room to pull all the water out as well.  At this point we decided that since we had rented the machine, we might as well clean all our carpets while we were at it.  Luckily we had a huge industrial fan from Jer's work that helped dry things out as well.  I felt like for a few days Truman and Cardon's room had a funny smell, but I think it is better now.  It was nice that it forced us to clean all our carpets.  Something we have been meaning to do for a long time!

These are the pictures that the kids took with my phone of some of the mess.

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The clean up took us all day.  We only stopped to make Sunday dinner for my family and grandparents.  It was a nice break to have them come down and laugh about the days events.  I am so glad that Jer never hesitates to jump in and help with a project.  Grandma Tacy sure loves her baby Chambers.  The other day when I pulled up to drop Truman off to do the garbage cans at their house (he does this every Tuesday) she hopped in the van so she could see Chambers up close.  It was so cute, but also made me a little nervous because I didn't want her to fall and she is still recovering from breaking her ribs.  But there is nothing like a baby to make someone happy.

We decided to continue with the carpet cleaner after dinner and went to my Grandparents house to clean their carpets as well.  It was about 9 o'clock at this point and obviously we had all had a long day (especially Jer).

...and apparently Cardon because he fell asleep like this while eating his "Perfect Bar."

We have new appreciation for the work and time that goes into cleaning up after a flood.  Hopefully we don't have to do this again soon.

August Pics and Happenings

I find myself doing more posts with random thoughts and photos all together just to stay on top of things. I don't know why I ever thought I would be less busy when the kids went back to school. I feel just as busy, but a little more caught up.

Truman was anxious to learn how to do the laundry and has been quite helpful with it since.

I love the raw emotion in Tacy's face as Jer pulls out her tooth with pliers.  I wouldn't have the stomach or heart to do it, but the kids actually ask him if he'll do it when their tooth is ready.  Needless to say this particular pulling was a success.  She has lost 2 teeth now.

The kids and I were bummed when they didn't catch a fish when we went in Joseph, so we decided to take them again to the pond by our house one evening for Family Home Evening and we were all loud and thrilled when Truman caught a blue gill all by himself.

I am still liking having the kids in school because I have gotten to spend so much quality time with the 2 little boys.  I feel like I have especially really gotten to know Cardon better when it is just he and I when Chambers goes down for a nap.  We love to play outside in the mornings when it is cool, read lots of books, practice his letters (he knows about 16 now), go on walks, color, watch movies (Barney, Letter Factory, and The Farm are his favorites), watch the garbage truck, and have lots of 2 year old converstaions.  All I can say is he is such a little character. 

This mess is to show what happens when your 2 year old is quiet for any amount of time.  I guess I forgot to lock the pantry.  he does seem to have a special affinity for the flour.  At least he tried to clean it up by getting the broom and sweeping it all through the kitchen and down the hall.

He stays up with the big kids and gets up with them at 7 every morning, so most afternoons he takes a pretty good nap. 

Chambers at 5 months

Some of my pictures have decided they will save correctly on my computer, so I thought I had enough to blog about Chambers at 5 months. Basically he is completely adorable and I'm in love. But...here are the small details.

 At 5 months Chambers:

ate baby food for the first time
eats only sweet potatoes right now
they are homemade
and he loves them
smiles A LOT
cries and whimpers if I leave the room
grabs his feet
holds onto toys
is way to helpful with his hands
will still let me rock him to sleep
but also goes to bed on his own in his crib
has one nap in the morning
has a long nap in the afternoon
is a great eater
rolls over all the time
mostly from back to front
likes to be tickled
knows when we are eating
loves to be held
is cuddly
blows bubbles
poops once a day or less
is into his 6-9 month clothes
likes the big kids to pay attention to him
laughs out loud