Sunday, March 9, 2014

Another attempt at catching up....

We FINALLY built a snowman.  With no grass in our yard, we couldn't just go in the backyard to do it (too much mud), so we had to drive to a park.  SHould have been that big of a deal, but it felt like it so I kept putting it off.  I had four very excited kids when I finally said "Let's do it!"





 They wanted a really BIG snowman, so I rolled the bottom of it until I couldn't push it anymore.  The boys rolled the middle....and it took both of them eventually:
 And Sam rolled the head.  Poor girl just couldn't get it to stick together.   This was the result of about 20 minutes of work from her.  I had her stand next to the bottom to show just how well this head would have fit on our BIG snowman.  (-:

The boys and I added a bit to Samantha's head and then it took all four of us (Hannah just watched the whole time) to get the middle up onto the bottom.  I seriously didn't think we'd be able to for a bit.  It was so heavy and cold!  But we were successful!



After a Costco trip, the girls insisted they could help me carry stuff down to the storage room.  Here is everything they carried and their "We are so strong" poses:


 These girls adore their Dad!

Hannah is almost always the first one up and loves to come cuddle in bed with us.  But I actually think this picture was taken during the day cause I'm dressed.....?  

I found the girls sneaking chips in the pantry:

We've started doing "dates" with the kids again and I love love LOVE it.  There is nothing better than one on one time with your kids to really remind you why you love being a Mom.  Sadly, from the last month, I only have pictures from Hannah's date.  We went to Chili's and she LOVED it...loved the attention, the cuddles, placing her own order with the waiter.  I don't think she stopped talking the entire time and I'm pretty sure she said "Mom, I just LOVE you." about a million times.


 She thought this ice cream and cookie was INCREDIBLE.  I asked her to "show me your 'that is so cool' face" adn this is what I got:
Not all the dates cost money.  Sometimes, we just go for a walk or to the park or grocery shopping etc.  But they always get an hour or two of Mom or Dad's time alone with no other kids  We rotate and do them on Saturdays.  So, each kid goes about once a month (when we are on top of things) and they alternate between Mom and Dad.

The girls are SO into painting...especially Samantha.


I'm still taking the girls to "story time" most every Monday.  It kinda makes me sad that the boys are now too old.  There were nearly three years where I took all four of them and it has always been something we've all really enjoyed.  But I still love seeing my girls get into it and get all excited.  Since the boys are no longer there, they have both gotten a lot "braver" and are willing to do most everything:

The kids LOVE this pile of rocks in our front yard.  They often climb it and they say "Mom, take a picture of me!"  So, here are a couple of those pictures:


Cory took the boys to a BYU volleyball game recently, so I decided to take the girls out as well.  We went to Chik-fil-A for dinner:


And then Yogurt Bliss for dessert:

Samantha is quite the little artist.  She asks if she can "cut and color" every. single. day.  Without fail.  Every day, almost all day.  Well, art is NOT my talent.  In fact, it is about the furthest thing from a talent for me.  But it is for her.  Not only does she love it, but she is really good at it.  She is the youngest person in her preschool class by 7 or 8 months and yet her teacher says she is the most diligent little colorer and the best at staying in the lines. 

She has been acting out a bit more than normal lately, and I finally figured out that I think it is b/c k I've been undervaluing her talent.  While I let her color most anytime she asks, I rarely say yes to the whole shebang...like maybe just once a week.  She wants scissors and glue and pencils and pens and construction paper and tape.  She will make airplanes and hats and gloves out of paper.  She "writes" books and then colors wrapping paper for them, wraps them and then gives them away.  She draws amazingly intricate pictures and has amazing stories to go along with them.  And it just felt like too much to me.  Getting all of that out and letting her go through SO MUCH paper and tape and glue was frustrating me.  But I stopped to imagine that if I was regularly told "no" when I wanted to pursue / practice something I loved, I'd be heartbroken and frustrated.  No wonder she's been acting out.

So.....we went to the store and got her all her own stuff for an "art" station which we set up in the space under her loft bed:


She has LOVED it.  Her and Hannah spent nearly 3 hours in there today just coloring away and she came out with over 20 creations.  (-:  Yes, it used a lot of paper and tape, but goodness, I spend far more money than that on dance or piano lessons or soccer or baseball!  And this is what she LOVES and is good at.  I'm actually now really enjoying seeing her practice and use her talent:

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