Vacation 2014

Last week we went on our first real vacation in several years. It was SO nice to get away together. We were invited to meet Scott's brother's family in southern Utah.

After much planning, packing, and new tires on our car, we left on a Wednesday afternoon. About an hour and a half into our trip, a piece of wood flew off of a flat bed truck in front of us and hit our car.  It knocked part of our fender off. We pulled over at the next exit and Scott and I were able to get it all put back together.  We just drove halfway that day and stopped for the night at my Grandma Roper's house in Orem.  It was so fun to show my children all the things I used to do at that house when I would visit as a child.  They loved it and it was a nice way to break up the drive.  We drove the rest of the way the next day.

We stayed in a beautiful cabin in Duck Creek, north of Kanab, Utah.  There was plenty of sleeping room for all of us. We had 4 adults and 8 children between our two families. Our kids are similar ages and they had the time of their lives playing together.

On Friday we were planning on going to Zion's National Park, but a longer than expected drive and a crying infant made us turn around and find something closer.  We went to Cedar Breaks National Monument and did a short hike. The kids participated in a junior ranger program and got little badges when they finished.  We finished up the afternoon at Mammoth Creek, which ended up being a tiny creek.  It was actually perfect. The kids threw rocks in the water and spotted some fish.

On Saturday we went to Bryce Canyon. What a beautiful place. We hiked along the rim of the canyon. The views were breathtaking!  When out kids are older, we would love to go back and hike through the narrows of the canyon.  The children were good little hikers. Scott and I took turns carrying Clara in the baby backpack.  We finished the day with a round of ice cream.

We left on Sunday morning and made it home before dinner time. It was just the break we needed and we were pleasantly surprised at how well our children traveled. 

15 Months

15 months. It's all happened way to fast. Slow it down, baby girl!

Our sweet little Clara has turned out to be quite the spunky toddler.  She's so fun to have around.

During the day, it's just her and Benson at home with me. They're learning to play together, but fight more than benson and Madeline ever did. Maybe it's the closer age difference? One of their favorite things is to ride on the big wheel together.  They also like to play in the car and climb all over our stroller.  She loves to play outside of the school while we wait for Madeline to come out each day. Then she runs to her and gives her a big hug.

She has 6 teeth, and is working on the 7th.  She usually sleeps through the night, and mostly is down to one afternoon nap a day. If she gets up at night, she's usually pretty good about laying on the couch with me until she falls back to sleep.  She has really long feet and is wearing shoes that Madeline wore when she was 2!  She's tall and thin and her hair is growing a bunch. She's gotten pretty good at sitting still while I fix it each day.

She is a happy girl most of the time, but we are starting to get into some whining. Not my favorite thing about little girls.  She loves to eat frozen mixed vegetables, the kids' leftover oatmeal (she'll climb into the kitchen table and dig right in if I don't put the bowls up when the others are done), strawberries, noodles, and anything sweet.  She doesn't like beans and most soups, which is too bad for her because we eat those things a lot.

She's talking some and says mama (or just mom in a whiny twang), dada, done, eat, bottle (baba), water, eye, uh uh, uh oh, down, hi,  and banana (nana).  She does several animal sounds. Her favorite is the elephant, and the cutest is her fish face, followed by the seal and gorilla. 

She LOVES shoes and insists on wearing them all day. She also sometimes has opinions about what clothes she wears. She loves to do anything the older kids are doing, especially playing outside. She loves books more than about anything. She was sick one day, and did nothing but bring me book after book to read to her. 

This little one is the best!

First Grader

This year we have a big first grader! She's loving it so far. Her cute little best friend is in a different class this year, but they seem to get their fix of each other at recess and lunch.  This girl is reading like crazy. She loves to do her homework right after school everyday, and mostly does it independently.  She's growing up so fast and we are so proud of her!

Kittens

It's finally time for a little blog updating. We had, actually we borrowed, 2 kittens this summer. We must not forget about the kittens! Probably so we don't do it again. 

Madeline is a kitten fanatic. She's worn holes in all of her pants from crawling around on the floor pretending to be a cat.  Lucky for her, Grandpa Serr has a farm full of cats.  She was promised a kitten this summer. And her parents promised her the kitten would live outside.  And then it turned into 2 kittens, because, of course, benson needed one too.  And then it turned into a borrowing situation.

After many weeks of waiting, there were finally kittens ready to leave their mother at the beginning of August. And then we came up with a crazy idea of how to keep them in our backyard.  They were small and we were afraid of losing them, and even more afraid of adding to the insane number of feral cats running around Rupert.  So we hooked up 2 lines to our laundry line out back and hooked them to the kitten's collars. Yes. Collars.  And then we kept them in a crate at night so they wouldn't be eaten by a bird of prey.  It was all so very dumb.  Do you know how many times I had to go outside and untangle their lines, or how many times I had to scrub out their crate?  And then I found them one day having from their necks from the top of their crate (they were fine). And then it happened again. And then we took them back to the farm. It all lasted 2 1/2 weeks.

But, let's talk for a minute about how very cute they were. Seriously adorable little creatures. We let the children name them without any adult input. So we ended up with Madeline's female cat, Fluffy, and Benson's male cat, Strawberry.  They were so sweet and mostly patient with the little ones.   But they loved me best.  Probably because I was constantly saving them from near death experiences.

Hopefully we all got our kitten fix, because I'm pretty sure that was a one time deal!

One!

Our little Clara turned one a week ago.  This has been the BEST year for our family and she's a big part of that.

Clara:

Loves books. She carries them around with her, she looks at them, and loves to be read to.  I haven't had near as much time to read to her as she or I would like, but I'm so glad she is starting her life out with a passion for books.

Is funny. She laughs a lot and loves to give cheesy smiles.  She laughs whenever her brother and sister laugh, but way louder and sillier.

Walks.  She's been walking full time for a couple of weeks now.  My earliest walker. She's also mastered stairs and getting off the couch without falling.

Is happy. She's a pretty content little girl. We go out for a run/walk most mornings and she never fusses or tries to climb out of the stroller. That's a first for me.  Occasionally she's bothered by her brother and will scream about it, but most of the time she's just a happy person.

Talks. Well, only a little. She says mama, dada, uh oh, eye, down, and dog.  She loves animal sounds and can do bunny, dog, elephant ( her favorite), bear, and cat.

Sleeps. A little better, anyway. She takes pretty good naps and occasionally sleeps through the night.  She has a favorite blanket that she loves now.

Eats really well.  She often eats more than her siblings at lunch and dinner.  She still refuses to be fed for the most part, so breakfast is usually a handful of Cheerios dumped on her tray.  She still nurses a little bit. She was my least interested nurser of the three until recently, when she became my only child to ask to nurse.  Usually at inopportune times.

Loves people. She's not afraid of going to other people and is often held by others at church. She loves and recognizes all of her grandparents.  She's not bothered by me being in another room in our house, but does cry if I go out the front door.

Is mischievous. She gets into more trouble than my other babies ever did.  When we were visiting my parents a couple of weeks ago, in one day she fell down the stairs, fell off the couch, electrocuted herself, and slipped on the floor. All while being supervised. She's quick!  Last Sunday she found a jar of cookie butter in the pantry, opened it by herself, and smeared it all over herself, the carpet, the couch, and  the ottoman.  All in no more than two minutes!

Is sweet and fun and cute and easy. We just love her to pieces!

Frweeeeee!

This sweet little love turned three this week!  This is what he's like:

He loves trains and cars and balls. But mostly trains.  Lucky for him, a busy railroad cuts right through the center of town. He gets to see trains ALL THE TIME while we're stuck waiting for our intersection to open up. At least it's fun for someone.

He loves to play with his big sister. He's usually really very nice to her and will give in to her demands for the most part.  They share a bunk bed, which works well for them most of the time.  He's not too interested in his little sister, and when he is, he's usually a little rough with her.  But he does like to feed her bits of his dinner.

He learned how to pedal his big wheel this spring and loves to ride it out in front if our house.  He also likes to water our flowers and swing and run.  The thing he likes to play the VERY most right now is play dough. He and Madeline sit at the kitchen table and play with it for hours. They learned how from YouTube. It's all very weird but I'm glad they're entertained.

He likes to sing and be sung to. And he's obsessed with listening to "Fwozen" in the car. I can't tell you how many hundreds of times we've heard that soundtrack. He never tires of it. Never.

He has a heart of gold. He has a little cousin who was in an accident and is in a full body cast.  Benson's grandma asked the kids to gather something to include in a care package she was sending.  Benson came out of his room carrying his most prized possession: his talking Edward engine.  He absolutely loves this toy and sleeps with it most nights. He said, "I give baby Kreg my Edward", and set it right in the box. He hasn't asked about it since.  

We just love this little boy and feel so lucky to have him!

Kindergarten Graduation

We had kindergarten graduation a couple of weeks ago. Why they can't just have a kindergarten presentation instead of 'graduation', I don't know.  Silly.  But cute.  We had to have a little talk afterwards when she was sad that I didn't bring her flowers or a huge bunch of balloons like some of the other parents.  I assured her that I will bring nice gifts when she graduates from high school and college, milestones that take a little more work.

Kindergarten was so good to Madeline. She had a really great year.  She made her first best friend - a sweet little girl that she also goes to church with.  She's grown and matured so much this year.  Her teacher assured me that she was a delight to have in class, after I said "really?"  She often had multiple children give her goodbye hugs when I would pick her up from school each day.  She really loved everything about school.  She wasn't bored at all - just glad to be there with all of the other kids.  She loved having homework.  And the biggest milestone of all was that she decided she wanted to read.  She really hadn't wanted to read with me at home, she would much rather be read to.  She told me she thought I wouldn't read to her anymore if she learned how to do it herself.  I assured her that wasn't the case, but didn't push her to read at all.  I think she loved the confidence kindergarten gave to her.  Now she's reading Junie B Jones: First Grader all by herself. I'm so proud of her!

On to first grade!

Soccer

Well, we gave soccer a try this spring.  It's actually the first extracurricular activity we've put Madeline in.  It ended up being fun, but busy.  I felt like we went from not having enough to do to having too much to do, just overnight.  They had practices twice a week and games once or twice a week.  Our evenings were pretty full for a couple if months.  

I was so proud of Madeline. We missed the first practice because we were delinquent parents and forgot all about it.  When she got back in the car after the first practice she went to she said, "mom, I really shouldn't have missed that practice because I don't have any idea what they're talking about"!  I felt for her - it sounded just like me when I played soccer at her age. I didn't have any idea what was going on.  The couch had to hold my hand and walk me onto the field to show me where to stand. 

She didn't want to go to the next practice and was tearing up in the car.  But she was brave and went.  After they had their first game and won, she loved it.  Thank goodness there were a couple of really good boys on her team, because they won all of their games.  Madeline was scrappy and followed the ball all around the field.  The biggest challenge we had was keeping benson off the field! I don't know if we'll do soccer again next year or try something else, but it was a fun first round of sports.  Many more to come, I'm sure!

Little Clara at 9ish months

Oh, we sure love this spunky little one! I have this fear that I will forget her entire babyhood, simply because it's been so easy. Here are some reminders:

18 lbs 3 oz., 28 inches at the doctor's 2 weeks ago for her first ear infection. She's tall and thin.  I wonder where she gets that from?  She also has my same exact toes. Every little curve and nail. 

She's a perfect little balance of her 2 siblings. She's active, busy, aware, and so curious like Madeline, but sweet and cuddly and funny like Benson. 

I celebrated her 9 month birthday by going for a run for the first time since the beginning of my pregnancy. I made it like 2 blocks. I also read her a book for possibly the first time. Two things I'm totally ashamed about. 

She hasn't eaten baby food in over 2 months. She completely refuses it. She didn't eat solid food for like a week, until I finally figured out she just wanted to eat some dang chicken like the rest of us!  I suppose table food is the end goal, but it does complicate the eating of things like applesauce and yogurt. 

And this is what dinner looks like.

She just started pulling herself up to a stand last week. What drove her to try this? The toilet bowl, of course!

She's the only child of mine to talk with meaning before a year. She says "dada" and knows it means her dad. When he claps, she'll clap too and say his name.  She looks for him first thing every morning, "dada? Dada?". And, boy is he eating her up. 

She's busy, busy, busy. She crawls all over the house getting into various things all day long. She can entertain herself pretty well and doesn't follow me around the house whining very often. But, she'll still let me rock her and sing to her while she snuggles into me.

She pinches for comfort. Probably her greatest flaw to date.

She sleeps at night about like she did as a newborn, which was really awesome for a newborn, but not so awesome for a 9 month old.

She's the best car rider ever!!! She doesn't make a peep during all of our errands, and travels really, really well to Logan.

Her hair is wild and crazy. I'm trying to do something with it everyday to keep it out of her eyes and in hopes she'll get used to it so she won't cry about having it combed everyday before kindergarten.  Not that I know anything about that...

She's seriously so fun and sweet. I hope I won't forget.

Antics at grandma's

We've spent some good time at my parents' house this month, with a wedding and all. The kids have loved every second of it.  They've also done some pretty funny things while we were visiting.

One morning I noticed the toilet paper was out in one of the bathrooms.  Later that day I brought a new roll in and noticed this:

Mr. Independent had taken matters into his own hands. Luckily, no one had tried to use it yet!

Benson did really well with his potty training at grandma's, and I think we've finally turned a corner to consistent success!  Madeline said to me while we were running errands with my mom, "Mom, I know you're not going to want to hear this, but I think Benson loves grandma more because he goes potty at her house".  Where does she come up with this stuff?

Vegetables

A typical vegetable meal with Clara...

But we're not giving up!

Goings On...

Tea pah-ties! Usually by Benson's request. Actually, not anymore because it's been put away for a while after multiple tea parties a day and the associated water spillage. 

Picture drawing. Sometimes of the morbid variety.

Quilt making. Really fun at first. Not so fun to actually quilt.  Machine quilted in straight lines every 3/4 inch. I'm sure I won't get the itch again for another couple of years.

Bunk bed sleeping. We're currently staggering bedtimes and the kids are sleeping really well. It's a bunk bed miracle!

Scavenging. Usually under the table because there are usually crumbs to find, no matter how many times a day I sweep.

Ball playing with dad. Especially on cabin fever days.

Too much growing up!

6 Months (of this little crazy)

Oh, this little girl. She is so funny and I am so in love!

She's grown up so much in the last couple of weeks. She's mobile!!!!! Clara rolls everywhere all day long. She has no interest whatsoever in sitting.  Not by herself and not in the bumbo. She just wants to play on the floor. 

She's eating some. We've tried peas, carrots, and applesauce. It's been slow, but just tonight she actually liked her peas! She doesn't have near the appetite my other babies did. And the only way to feed this wild one is to sit her on my lap and strap her arms down with one of mine. On Friday she launched herself out of the bumbo while being fed. 

She sleeps WAY worse at night now than when she was a newborn. As a 3 week old she was sleeping 6 an 7 hour stretches at night. Those days are over. But, she's so sweet and happy that I can't hardly care. For now.

She will lay her head on my shoulder when I sing to her. It's the only time she is still.

She is just the happiest little girl and we love her so much!