Crayon roll

To go along with the activity bag that I made for the boys I made these crayon rolls to keep their crayons all together. I saw this idea on the web a few weeks ago and thought it was nice, but once I was already in sewing mode making the bags it didn't take much longer to throw one of these together. I couldn't remember where on the web I had seen them, so I just googled 'crayon roll' and lots of sites came up. The website I found most helpful showed pictures of the different steps of how to do it. It took me less than an hour from start to finish. I just did it tonight and the boys haven't seen it yet. I hope it will help them from having to dump out all of the crayons all over. In this handy roll they can see all of the colors and can reach for just the right one.

Kids activity bag

Yesterday I was at an Expo and saw some kids bags that were in fun prints and had pockets on the outside for holding their crayons. They cost $30! ouch. I looked at them and thought maybe I could try to make them.
I took the kids to the fabric store to choose their own fabric - Charlie choose army material and Tom choose dinosaurs.
I checked the web and found a few websites that gave me an idea of how to make the bags. After a little bit of trial and error I figured out how to make them and they turned out very well, I was pleased with how nicely they turned out. I put the pockets on the inside - one large pocket and on the other side a pocket with slits for putting in pencils and crayons.
Charlie loves to draw and I hope this bag will help him keep his things together instead of leaving them all over the place.

Future Missionary

Last week I went to buy Tom some new church shoes and I took the boys with me to the store. After we found Tom a pair of shoes I remembered Charlie needed a new white shirt. While I was finding a shirt the boys were trying on suit jackets. "Mom, we need to get these." I thought they looked nice, but didn't really want to spend the money to buy both of them a suit - I couldn't buy just the jacket, they didn't have black church pants, they usually wear tan pants. I gave in to their pleading and begging and bought them each a suit.
I love how handsome they look wearing them and now they look forward to getting dressed for church and looking their very best.
Last Sunday when Charlie was getting ready he said, "Mom, you know what I look like? I look like a missionary". I thought he did too.

Have a good cry

Today was one of those days. I didn't feel well - I was sick yesterday, threw up and everything and today I was in recovery mode and was very tired. My children were extra rambuncious and wild and fighting and making messes like crazy. Then came the moment when I "snapped". The boys know that they are supposed to keep drinks in the kitchen - but you know kids, they will try to get away with whatever they can. Tom poured some soda in a glass, I saw him with it and reminded him to stay in the kitchen. I went down the hall to my bedroom and a moment later I heard a thud and Tom started to cry. He had gone downstairs with his drink and got tripped up or something and bumped into the wall on the landing. Of course his soda spilled everywhere. He said he had hurt himself, but I was too mad about the soda everywhere to care about him at the moment. I sent him to his room. Then Charlie did something or other, and I yelled at him and to top it all off Becca came by me whining and crying while I was trying to clean up the steps. I sat on the steps and started crying, feeling like such a mean mom - yelling at my kids and being so mad. When ever Becca hears me cry she starts crying. This brought the boys out to see what we were crying about and then Tom started to cry. "Why are you crying mommy?" he kept asking, but I couldn't say anything yet, I was still too emotional. So the three of us were crying and Charlie comes over and gives me a hug. So all the children are gathered around me and most of us are crying - and at that moment I felt love, and the anger and the frustration left and I was thankful to my children for gathering around me in my moment of need. And for about the next five minutes they were as good as gold.

File Folders

I also found a great site that has lots of file folder activities and games to have on hand.

Sculptures of Christ

The St. George Visitors Center has on display an amazing sculpture display of various scenes from the Bible of Christ. The artist is a woman, Angela Johnson, from Arizona, who took up sculpting just 10 years ago. Her artwork is amazing. Click on her name to go to her website where you can view these pieces, or if you click on the visitors center you can see the pieces that are on display here. Seeing them on the internet is nothing compared with seeing them in person. The piece titled "Come Unto Me" is a life size sculpture of Christ, akin to the Christus, and when I stood in front of it and looked up into His eyes it was like I was truly looking into Christ's eyes - they were kind and loving and healing.

Our new pet

This is Thumper, our new pet bunny. My cousin Jacy has bunnies, and the boys loved holding them. I felt bad that the boys have been begging for a dog, but I just can't commit to that. A bunny seemed a much better option. So far the only problem is the boys love it too much. They are always carrying it around and are fighting over whose turn it is. Thumper puts up with the boys affection, but I don't think he really likes it. I think he prefers to stay in his cage, away from loving arms of little boys, but I am impressed with how patient the bunny is and how tolerant he is.

Charlie and Tom do everything with the bunny. They love to hold him and watch tv. I thought this camera moment was so cute when I walked by and saw the boys reading a book to their bunny. They would love to sleep with the bunny, but I draw the line there, mostly for the sake of the bunny. In fact, today I announced it a day of rest for the bunny and only let the boys have the bunny out for a short time. I think if the bunny is going to survive the love of my boys, I'm going to have to impose time limits.

Becca is a true Taysom

Becca is a true Taysom because she loves to ride on a tractor with daddy just as much or more than the boys do. This was expected with the boys - that they would love boy things, such as tractors and dirt. However, I didn't expect Becca to love tractors so much.
Yesterday Jeremy borrowed a tractor to grade our backyard (I'm hoping we'll be ready for grass in the next couple of weeks). Becca was helping me with the garden, but kept wandering off towards the tractor. Finally Jeremy stopped and let her sit behind him on the seat. For some reason the motion of the tractor always puts our kids to sleep. Soon enough her head was bobbing around and Jeremy stopped so I could get her and put her down. I got her into her bed and she seemed like she was going to stay asleep, but a minute later she was wide awake and I took her back in the yard with me. She wanted on the tractor again, and after 10 minutes or so she was asleep again. This time I just laid her down in the yard to let her keep sleeping. But again, after a minute she woke up. She wanted back into the tractor again. This third time, when she fell asleep again we just let her stay in the tractor and sleep bobbing around as Jeremy kept working.

It's a Girl!

Well, I never did post the result of the poll - boy or girl?, or say what my prediction was, so here's the recap.
I did think it was going to be a girl - so the voting was even - 3 said boy, and counting me 3 said girl.
The ultrasound showed the baby to be developing well and everything looks like it should. He showed the face in 3D and it was so cute to watch the baby opening her mouth and kept sucking at her fist.
I am exactly halfway today - 20 weeks and that is exactly what the baby measures. The due date is September 1.
One reason I'm so excited about a girl is because she and Becca will be so close in age - 21 months apart, the same as Tom and Charlie. There is a bigger gap between Tom and Becca, 2 1/2 years.

Now the next thing we have to do is come up with a name. What are some girl names?

Happy Birthday to me

Yesterday was my birthday - number 32. We have a fun tradition we've started in our family - Jeremy started it last year on my birthday. He got the table cloth and party hats and balloons and set it up in the morning. Then he came in my room with the plastic princess tiara and wand and the boys told me that I was a princess. We went out the decorated table and had birthday cake for breakfast. The kids loved it so much that we did it on their birthdays. Now they think that it isn't a birthday unless you've had cake for breakfast. It's a fun way to start the day, but maybe not so nutritious. So this year I made muffins and then frosted them - to kids that is a cupcake - it looks like one, and it still has the most important part - the frosting.Becca joined in on the fun early and assumed her normal favorite spot on top of the table. The table cloth got rearranged a few times until I got her strapped in her high chair.
Charlie refused to smile - I can't remember why, but I do remember Jeremy asking him if he would smile and Charlie said "no".
The fun thing with doing cupcakes is that everyone gets one to blow out. Right after this picture was taken I put one cupcake in front of each of the kids so they could blow it out. I remember when I was a kid and my little brother Mike always had to blow out the candles, no matter whose birthday it was. So the candles would get lit one time for the birthday person and then re-lit for Mike to have a turn. This way - with cupcakes everyone gets a turn at the same time.
Becca loved the frosting. After she had licked it all off she wanted another cupcake.
The boys wanted to get me a dog for my birthday - they were sure that would be the best present ever. I assured them I did not want a dog. Jeremy was trying to appease the boys so he bought this birthday card that had a picture of a dog. Tom carried that card around all day.
This is Charlie's stuffed animal, Sasha (Charlie and Tom call him Tasha). Charlie decided that it was Sasha's birthday too and that Sasha was turning 6 years old. He made me give a cupcake for Sasha to blow out. Happy Birthday Sasha. ( If we were actually counting from when we got Sasha she is actually 9. I say she, because when Jeremy and I bought her at Costco I thought she was a girl bear and named her Sasha. When Charlie was two or three he took over on Sasha and called it a he and calls him Tasha. I still call it Sasha, which is a Russian name that is a boys name and a girls name. Poor Sasha, I hope he/she isn't too confused.)

Pigtails

My cousin, Jacy, watched Tom and Becca while I helped at Charlie's preschool today. When I went to pick them up she had done Becca's hair. Jacy has two girls and has had much practice at girl hair. I told Jacy I would be over every day to have her do Becca's hair. Actually I just need her to teach me a few tricks of the trade. Becca looks so cute with her hair up in pigtails.
These pigtails were much cuter before her nap, but Becca fell asleep in the car on the way home, so I wasn't able to get a picture until after her nap. The kids had a fun time playing at Jacy's house. They have a dog and rabbits and goats - everything for animal lovers like my kids. At some point I need to get an animal of some kind - I'm thinking rabbits. Tom held their bunny most of the time he was there and was very reluctant to give it up when we left. Even Becca wasn't afraid to touch. Most animals she loves from a distance, but if they get too close she gets scared.

Char at the park

Charlie - the master of the spinners.

Charlie loves to do this type of monkey bars. There are three wheels in a row and the angle of the wheel pulls him down to the next and to the last one. He will spend a half hour or more doing it again and again. I think he loves the challenge of trying to get all three spinners - he has a hard time getting the last one. It's fun to watch his determination and his persistence.

Charlie the firefighter

Charlie's preschool went to the fire station today to learn all about fire fighters.
In his own words, what they did:

"We got to go in the fire house and we got to go in the fire truck. We watched a movie that showed what fire fighters do. There was a man that showed us how fast he could put on his suit. We got fire fighter hats.
I liked everything about going there - it was fun."

Pinwheels

I taught Tom's preschool today, it's my turn for the next two weeks. We were learning about wind and I found this idea to make pinwheels. I was surprised how much they loved playing with them. They were very easy to make, but my version might be a little dangerous if the kids aren't careful - I used a straight pin to keep the four corners of the paper together and then pushed it through to the eraser part of a pencil. I only pushed the pin so that it didn't poke through the other side of the eraser, but if the kids push on the straight pin they could poke themselve - but none of the kids did, so far no pokes, just lots of fun.

Swimming plan number two

Since they found out on Saturday that it is still a little too cold outside for swimming, they opted for my bathtub and their swim gear as the swimming place of choice.
Tom didn't do up his life vest. I guess he is wearing it more for looks than for safety reasons.
Charlie on the other hand is ready for anything. His vest is snapped up and his goggles are on (crooked as they may be). That's my kind of swimming - in nice warm tub temperature water rather than freezing cold water outside where the wind is also bringing on the chill.

Resourceful Children

For the past week or two the boys have been bugging me about getting out their swimming pool and blowing it up so they can play in the water. I keep telling them that it really isn't warm enough yet. Saturday I don't even know if they bothered to ask, as the took it upon them selves to drag the pool out from it's storage spot in the garage, drag it outside, find the tool to blow air into the pool and then got my keys to the car so they could plug the air blower into the power source. I had to come help them at that point, because the cord to the blower is short and I needed to back the car out of the garage so the pool could sit by the car in order to blow it up. I then let them finish what they had started on their own.

Becca in the car while the boys blow up their swimming pool.

My children are very independent and when they are doing a good job of something on their own I don't like to interfere. On the other hand, when they are being too resourceful (ie. doing something potentially dangerous, or too messy) I do interfere and don't allow them to do it on their own. I had to help them with the end part of getting the bottom layer of the pool blown up, but over all they did a great job. Charlie even got the hose out of the garage, hooked it up to the spigot and then filled the pool up.
Tom was hiding under the pool while Charlie was blowing it up.
After they got it filled with water and had been in it just a minute or two Charlie came in the house and asked if he could put the pool in the garage. When I asked him why he said because it was too cold outside. - Ahh! so mother was right - it really isn't warm enough yet. I explained that out in the sunshine would be warmer than in the garage in the shade so they made do for a while longer and toughed it out.

Spring

I love beautiful flowers. I wish my yard was full of them. I took these pictures downtown. When I lived in Salt Lake I lived with a lady who had lots of flowers planted all over her yard. Spring was my favorite when all of her bulb flowers would blossom - tulips and all those kinds of flowers. I do have one rose bush planted. I have an area to the side of my house that I would love to make into my secret garden someday. I don't know if the heat of St. George is really ideal for most flowers, but I'll find the ones that do work.

Resaons to be Happy today

I'm happy today for the sunshine - that is definitely one reason I love living in St. George - so many sunny days.

I'm happy that I feel good today - yesterday I felt very blah and just not myself, it's nice to be back to myself today.

I'm happy for a wonderful husband. He took it upon himself to tend to our neglected kitchen. I hadn't done dishes for a few days. He asked me if I made stew in the crockpot tonight just because it was the only clean dish left. Hah, hah. Anyway, now my kitchen is sparkling clean thanks to my husband.

I'm happy today that I made a menu (something I haven't done for weeks) and I went shopping and then came home and cut up all the vegetables for the veggie tray, so the kids can snack on that and not look for sugary things to eat. As long as there is "carrot sauce" (ranch) the kids love eating veggies.

I'm happy today that I took the kids to the dinosaur museum. We pass by it quite often and they are always asking to go, but I make excuses. Tom cornered me today and I promised that I would take him after Charlie got home from preschool, he wasn't very happy about that, he wanted to go "now". Charlie took his notebook so he could "take notes", during the intro video he was busy drawing pictures, I guess that was his notes. After buzzing through the museum I tried to herd my kids quickly past the gift shop, but they had to stop and look and touch everything, despite my warnings not to touch anything. They wanted everything - I told them they would have to save their own money and come back a different time to buy. Charlie asked how much a particular item was - $18 - his face fell, he knew that was a lot of money for him. Then he cheered up and started thinking of different chores he could do to earn money. Later he asked me if he earned money for picking up his room earlier that day, he wasn't happy when the answer was no - we only earn money for extra chores, not for things that need to get done daily.

I'm happy today for kids who love to learn. Charlie is really into writing his letters and trying to figure out how to spell words. In the past he has written a bunch of letters in a row"sfltsid" and then asks me what that spells. Now he asks me how to spell specific words. I help him sound it out and he usually figures it out on his own. He loves to make lists of words that he knows, "bat, cat, charlie, tom, mom, dad". Today he wrote each of the letters in the alphabet in order and then asked me, how do you spell, "now I know my ABC's, next time won't you sing with me". Kids are so cute.

Boy or Girl?

I went for my prenatal checkup yesterday and the doctor did and ultrasound (first time seeing this baby - now I know that there really is a baby in there, I always wonder and seeing it on the monitor makes it real more than just seeing my tummy get bigger) and the baby's feet were in the way and we did not find out what it was. (this is not a picture of my ultrasound, just one from the internet).

I thought I would take a poll as to people's predictions - boy or girl?

I'll tell you my vote after some of you share yours. In two weeks I get another ultrasound and hopefully we'll find out.

Although being pregnant and having a baby is always exciting, somehow number four just isn't the same as baby number one or even baby number two. By the time you get to baby number four you know what you are getting yourself into and you have the reality of three other children, whereas baby number one got your undivided attention.

The other day I was having a tough day and my kids seemed so uncooperative and I thought of a neighbor lady who always seems calm and composed with her four children and I thought to myself, "well maybe by the time I get to baby number four I'll learn to be more calm" then I realized I am pregnant with number four, "crap, well, maybe by the time I get to number 5".
It just comes at you so fast. I just had baby three a year and a bit ago and pretty soon I'll have four. When I started having children I always thought that four seemed like a good amount of kids for a family. Now I'm at number four and I'm not sure - maybe 5. Of course on days when all is mayhem I wonder at the three that I already have and wonder why I think I would want more. Then on others days, when we are all cuddled up together, laughing and having fun, I love the joy of it all, these precious little ones that are mine for just a short while.

Love my balloon

Charlie bought this balloon yesterday. He chose it and took it to the cashier and paid for it. Before we went into the store Charlie showed me a handful of change and said he was going to buy something. I didn't think he would have enough to buy anything. After he bought the balloon he said, "See mom, I told you I had enough".
One balloon and three kids is not a good ratio. The boys had fun with it for awhile, but Becca won out in the end and once she got a hold of it she would not let go, almost quite literally. I went to the Temple last night and my sister Debbie put the kids to bed. When I got home and peeked in on Becca, she was asleep, but she still had the ribbon of the balloon tightly in her hand, she was not going to chance having it taken away.