Kid Update

Miles

*Your friend on our street, Colston, has introduced you to Pokemon and Minecraft. Now you are fairly obsessed with both. He generously gave you about 100 of his pokemon cards in a fancy carrying bag and taught you how to play the Pokemon game. After that you said, "My Christmas wish came true!" I said, "From last Christmas??" And you said, "No, I was wishing that this Christmas I would get Pokemon cards, and now I've already got them!" The other big pull is Minecraft. It's become a real trial for you to not go over and play Minecraft every.single.day. When we say no, you try to change our minds by telling us that Colston gets to play video games and watch TV all the time. Yeah...that doesn't fly at our house. It messes with your attitude, and it's not a favorite thing round these parts. So we're trying to help you work on that.
*Maybe someday, you'll become a drummer. You're constantly tapping out beats with your hands, fingers, mouth, feet etc. With my low tolerance for repetitive sound, I feel like I'm constantly telling you to stop. Hopefully I'm not crushing your future as a professional musician.
*You are wanting to sew a bunch of stuffed animals to take to sick kids at the hospital. I'm so glad you have such a giving heart, but I'm having a hard time wanting to jump on board with this one! Sewing is not my strong suit, and I don't feel like I have the energy to devote to such a project. After asking me to do this for about the 1,000th time today, I said ok fine, got you scissors, fabric and pins, and told you to figure it out. I've learned that I can be a really controlling parent. Sometimes, it's probably good that I give you more freedom and let you figure more things out, even if it might be frustrating to you at first. At least that's what I'm telling myself to ease my guilt at not helping you with this wonderful project you've started.
*You started writing a book! It makes me giddy when my kids start to appreciate something I love so much. You very meticulously hand wrote about 10 pages. But then Lindy accidentally got a few pages wet. You were devastated. I told you we could fix it by typing it up on the computer! Originally I thought you would read it to me, and I'd type it for you, since typing is still a new skill to you. But I wasn't always available when you wanted to type. So you started doing it yourself. It's a very slow process, but you're making progress and feel very proud of it!


Gwen

*We went to a park the other day and you were climbing around on the fake rock structures like a little monkey. You're really good at it! I even had another Mom come over and comment on how gracefully you were climbing and posing on these fairly high "rocks". She guessed you were in dance of some sort because you were so in control of your body.
*You have recently mastered the concept of whistling. So we hear you whistling constantly. Not any tune in particular, just a few tones over and over again. :)
*You recently lost your 2nd tooth and were so excited! The first time you lost a tooth, it took the tooth fairy 2 whole days to find you! Can you believe it?? So you were doubly surprised that the tooth fairy came that very night.
*This morning I woke up to Benson crying, as usual. When I pulled him in bed with me, I realized you were sleeping where Dad had been. I tried to keep Benson quiet for a while to not wake you up, but eventually it couldn't be helped. You just pulled him in to you and snuggled as much as possible, even in your half awake sleepy state; never minding when he crawled on your head or cried in your ears. You were jealous that Benson was snuggling me more than you. :) But just by a little, really. He snuggled you a lot and has a real soft spot for you. It was a real treat for me to watch you, in the early morning light, take care of Benson with a smile on your face and with genuine love for your little brother.
*You are catching the entrepreneurial spirit. You sold some of your artwork a few weeks ago, and yesterday you decided that you're going to rake people's leaves for them. So you practiced on ours.
*You are crossing over that line in reading where chapter books are a norm for you. Once you get started on a book, you burn through it. The other day, I grabbed a book from the library that I had put on hold because it was an easy chapter book I thought you and Miles would enjoy. I handed it to you in the car, and by the time we got home, you had finished it. No joke!
*One of these days, you are going to like having a clean room. But right now, you are probably my most messy child. Yours and Lindy's room is ALWAYS messy. No matter if you guys "clean" it during the day, and if I go in later and clean more, the next morning...it will be messy again! It's baffling! Your little area next to your booster seat in the car is always full of garbage. You always leave your dance bag, coats, shoes, piano books etc all over the place. It's frustrating. I'm looking forward to when you're more capable in that area. :)

Lindy

*Usually your prayers are hit and miss. But you said the most relevant prayer the other day! "Dear Heavenly Father, Plee-Bleh (please bless) brother Simonsen (your old nursery teacher who you miss), please bless Jeffrey and Cora to not be sad, please bless our family be really awesome, please bless our family be good, please bless we not get any sickness, please bless my hair not get tangles in it. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."
*You are all about muscles lately. You'll ask, "Mom, do you have muscles? Strong muscles?" I'll say yes, and then you'll ask to feel them. You rub my elbow, and then remark on how strong I am. Then you ask me to feel your "flexed" muscles. If I feel your bicep, you say, "No, here" and have me feel your elbow. :)
*Yesterday when I told you to go get ready for tumbling class, your eyes got really big and you said, "I go tumbling class AGAIN??" I assured you that this would be a regular thing and you expressed yourself in face, voice and body, like the luckiest girl on the planet. It was the best part of my day.
*We're becoming more and more worried about your speech. We're looking into some things that may help. You specifically have problems stuttering, not being able to say digraphs and blends, and "pausing" in the middle of 2 syllable words. Such as "Beh-en" instead of "Benson".
*Today was the primary program, and as most sacrament meetings go, it wasn't super interesting to you. However, when they started singing, 'The Wise Man and the Foolish Man', you just lit up! I could see you in the audience and I sat on the stand, and you did all the actions with enthusiasm! It's your top favorite song these days.
*How do we stop you from whining??? Dad and I are tired of the whining tone. I feel like we are constantly reminding you to use a nicer voice, and ask for things more politely.
*You can turn anything into a fun story with your imagination. Whenever I do your hair, you usually grab a toothbrush, or rubber-band, or whatever is handy and make up some sort of story while I work. The other day, you were "helping" me make a dessert, but quickly lost interest. So instead you became heavily involved in a story involving the vanilla and almond extracts, the salt shaker, and 2 cups. From what I could understand, it was riveting! :)



Benson

*You have never liked pacifiers, and never been a thumb sucker. But you love to chew on your fingers when I lay you down for naps. I think it's because you're getting new teeth and gnawing on your fingers way back in your mouth gives you some relief.
*You have the funniest, maniacal laugh. Not all the time, but sometimes when you get really excited, you do this laugh that it so quick and monotone. I don't even know how to describe it in words, but it cracks us all up.
*You have learned that you need to blow on hot food before you eat it. It was really effective at first, but now you just blow on everything before you eat it. Including nursing. :) It's now morphed into you thinking that blowing=food. When I get you out of your crib in the morning, you just start blowing cause you're so anxious to eat!
*You are such a little sweetheart. When you give us the open mouthed kisses and when you snuggle in for hugs, you "say", "ahhhhh", like Dad and I do when we give you kisses, More of an "awwww!" sound. And then you'll pat us on the back when you hug us, just like we do to you. :)
*We took you in for your year check up and you are only in the 60 something percentile for height and 45th percentile for weight. WHAAAAAA???? I've never had a kid be less than 80% in ANYTHING...EVER. I was so shocked. I asked the doctor if that was ok, since it was such a big drop. She said you are growing just fine and are completely healthy. You may just have some small genes in there somewhere. Crazy since you were my biggest baby at birth!
*You are a man on a mission. You can crawl anywhere these days, and quickly! Gone are the endless snuggles on the couch. Boo! You don't like to sit on laps anymore, you want to be constantly moving. You have a taken a few steps here and there if Dad and I really work with you. It's only a matter of time!
*You took your first official, all-by-yourself steps yesterday! (10/8/17)We weren't even pushing you to do it. You pulled yourself up on the bench at Grandma and Grandpa Garner's house, and took 4 independent steps! Yay Benson!! You took a few more later that night too!
*You know what snakes, chickens, and horses say, what yes and no mean (You love to nod, "yes" when we ask you questions), you sit when we tell you to sit, you blow when we tell you food it hot and then say, "Ha", you know you're not supposed to put things in your mouth if we tell you it's yucky...you're just learning something new everyday!
*You are really into climbing things lately (uh-oh) and sitting inside boxes or cupboards or totes. You climbed in the kid's sensory box today (which was filled with dried beans and things) and sat there contentedly sifting the beans with your fingers. You never ate them (thank goodness) just played with them. You LOVE sensory things. You are ALWAYS on the move these days, but if you find a pleasing texture, you will stay still for at least 20 minutes. Small rocks, sand, dried corn, leaves, dried beans, these have all been highlights in the last week alone.
*We are officially done nursing! I'm equal parts happy and sad about it. I was only nursing you in the morning because you wake up so early and if I nursed you it meant I could snuggle you in bed and try to rest a little more. However, you weren't getting much, so we let that snuggle time go. For a week or so, when you woke up early I would just take you on the couch and snuggle you for a while. But now, I think you realize you aren't going to get fed, so you've been sleeping later in the mornings! YAY!!! No more 530am! (knock on wood)

First half of October

1. Fall sensory box. I just keep pulling out all my tried and true sensory stuff, and I think the kids are getting a little bored with it. Time to think of some new ones! 2. Practicing spelling words by stamping them out. 3. practicing spelling words by playing tic tac toe


For years, Richie's brothers sold the many pumpkins they grew in their garden, to help them earn money. Well, the boys are all grown up, so Grandma Garner said that we could sell them and use the money for our tree house fund. We neglected to bring the truck to haul the pumpkins away because we didn't want to switch car seats over, so our van was PACKED full of pumpkins. I'm amazed it all fit. 30+ pumpkins! Under our feet, in our laps, piled to the ceiling in the back... It was comical. We've already sold out! The kids felt very grown up handling all the transactions.


A few photos of Lindy's joy school, the day we hosted most recently. I think I've convinced the other moms to let me host at our house, instead of at the Stone's house in West Jordan, which is a game changer. This is my 5th year doing joy school, and while each year is a bit different, this one is proving to take me the longest to feel like I'm in a groove. It's fun watching Lindy be so capable and feeling so special.


Some weeks, I barely pull meals together. Other times, I seem to have enough energy to get creative. This was a new one: Beetza! For someone who doesn't necessarily like beets or kale, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this pizza. Pizza crust, beet sauce, topped with walnuts, kale, onions, and goat cheese. After we forced the kids to eat a few bites, even they discovered they liked it! Win!


Miles decided he wanted to try out tennis at the rec center. It's Wednesdays in October, so it's just a fun little introduction. The other night, I watched the class going on and saw that he didn't "win" a game they were playing. He was fighting back tears the rest of the lesson. I was actually a little glad, because it's good for him to have to learn these lessons. I figured he would be sad about it, then get over it. But at the end of the lesson he collapsed into my arms and sobbed. It's rough growing up!



Homeschool group day: Studying Thanksgiving! We had our own little feast. I got a kick out of what the kids wrote they were grateful for.


In out window well in the school room, we have been having quite the spider show. There are 2 black widows, 1 wolf, and 1 orb spider (that we can see). Any spiders that enter my house get killed on sight. I try to leave them alone outside, but I still don't like them. However, it's been completely fascinating to watch them. How many people get to be that up close to actually watch a spider spin a web, or catch and eat it's prey? It's been fun and all, but I won't be sad to see them go. :)


We love having friends over! Sometime I forget to set up "play dates" because we just get too "in our own little world" but the kids have some really good friends in the neighborhood. Here's Miles and Parker pushing each other on the tire swing, and Gwen and Lindy with Kayla and Alyssa playing dolls. :)


The leaves were starting to chance colors here in the valley, so I knew that if we didn't get up to the mountains soon, we'd miss the leaves at their peak. So although this particular Saturday was a busy one, we made it a priority to get up in the mountains and hike around. We just went up behind the Draper temple. The leaves were breathtaking!! Fall is definitely my favorite season. I wish it was fall 95% of the time.


Cute chubby-faced Benson in a hat. :)

Conference Weekend

I often sit back and marvel at how blessed we are as a family. I can't believe I got so lucky! Though sometimes, I get caught up in the comparison game and I will begin to feel a little jealous because our family doesn't have certain things, or do certain things, or go certain places. But I never feel that way on weekends like this last one.

Grandma and Grandpa Garner bought 508 pounds of apples and we spent all weekend turning those apples into delicious applesauce and apple juice. My kids heads were stuffed full of wonderful, warm memories that help them develop into well rounded kids now, and will sustain them through tougher times as they get older. They must be some of the luckiest kids on the planet. They ran around all weekend with their cousins, climbing trees, jumping on the tramp, swinging, picking carrots and eating them straight from the garden,playing make believe, nibbling on raspberries straight from the bush, and helping us make applesauce. This is the first year I felt like they were actually helping the process and not "helping". :) Miles especially surprised me with his tenacity. You could tell he felt very capable and grown up as he kept on with the process when the other kids would give up. We stopped only to eat here and there, and the kids watched one movie. But the hard work felt good. (Miles took that last picture of Ethan all by himself!)




Saturday we listened to the first session of conference inside while we waited for a little rain to pass. But as soon as the first (amazing!) session was over, we cranked out something like 30 gallons of apple juice. It's a much quicker process than applesauce. The kids tried bobbing for apples, and had some success. :) We cut pumpkins off the vine, chose our favorites, then were told we could take the rest home for the kids to sell-just like the Garner kids used to do- which Miles was very excited about. We cooked and tried to keep kids quiet while we listened to the 2nd session, then feasted together.


On Sunday we had Tucker and Belen, Taysom, Ilah and her 2 roommates over for conference! How fun it is for us that so many of my nieces and nephews are up here in northern Utah! We missed Zadi and Jesse because they got sick! Boo. We made German pancakes and cooked farm fresh bacon. YUM. We only eat like that when it's conference, or Christmas. That's how exciting conference is. :) The kids loved having so much attention and it was so fun for me to see everyone. We threw together some tomato soup and toasted cheesers for lunch, and then they were on their way after the 2nd session. We rounded the day off back at the Garners for dinner to celebrate Jacob's birthday. What a fantastic weekend!

The Rest of September

Richie and Miles on their way to Father's and Son's camp out. They came home dirty and said they had a blast. Sounds like a success to me! :) Meanwhile I tried to make it fun at home for me and the girls. (We let Benson participate in our all girls weekend, cause we're nice like that) We watched a girly movie that night and made brownies. In the morning, we borrowed a waffle maker from our neighbor that makes the waffle in a Mickey Mouse shape, which the girls thought was so cool. We indulged in the first hot chocolate of the season, complete with marshmallows and whipped cream. Yum!


Gwen got it in her head that she was going to sell a bunch of her artwork. So she put signs on our front door and made a poster, which she danced around with out front. She couldn't understand why people weren't flocking to her! After 2 days of this, she decided to go door to door on our street, and luckily some sweet neighbors took pity on her and bought a couple. :)I'm grateful for kind neighbors.


I know it's random, but this bathroom shelf makes me so happy. Seeing all FOUR of my kid's toothbrushes in their own little mason jars lined up neatly just makes me smile.


Lindy helping Dad mow the lawn. :)


School Stuff: Gwen reviewing nouns by cutting pictures out of magazines, sight words barrel of monkeys, practicing spelling words with letters from magazines, and Lindy practicing colors by sorting buttons.


Lindy and her friend Bexley picking raspberries. And here's Benson enjoying the ones I picked. They are his favorite food these days. He eats them as fast as we can pick them!


Homeschool group day at our house! Playing Inuit games. :)


Richie's Aunt Sheree invited the Garner girls to her house one Saturday to make cards. She loves making cards and has all the "Stampin Up" supplies etc and is very talented. She created all the kits for us to make bunches of beautiful cards, and overall provided such a wonderful day for us. I really did feel like it was my birthday. No kids to wrestle with, something crafty to do, cafe rio to eat... it was glorious. And to top it off, that night I got to go to the Women's session of conference!! Best Day Ever!


We got our Halloween decorations out. The kids were SO excited. When we pulled out the broom they made with Grandma Crosby last year, they all hopped on for a ride.


Homeschool Day at Alisha's! We were learning about some Japanese rulers, so we did some sumo wrestling, had a tea ceremony, and practiced using chopsticks!



Science= using a bottle of coke to blow up a balloon