Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Family Update

So lots of exciting things have been going on here around here lately. Well, exciting to us.


Brody started violin lessons. Isn't he a doll?





Collin lost another tooth. The tooth fairy brought him 4 quarters. How awesome! And yes, I agree that this is a scary picture.


There we go. That is much nicer. :)


And Big D got himself a new gun. He is very excited about it, and I really hope he doesn't hurt himself with it. Doesn't he look so tough?

And for our biggest news......we are expecting baby #3 September 7th. We are all very excited. I can't wait to find out the gender next month. We hope for boy #3, but I really bet that it's a girl. Time will tell. Well that is our brief update in pictures. Enjoy!



Thursday, February 17, 2011

"I'm Bored!"

Don't you just love those two little words? Collin is the kind of kid who is on the go at all times. He is very smart and very physical. Last summer I made him the classic "I'm Bored" jar out of a wipes container. Simple, yet one of the best things I have ever done. Collin refers to it several times a week. He is wakes up at 6 am and is instantly doing something. Frequently he will have some craft project finished before I go upstairs to tell him to get ready for school.




Some of the ideas in box include:




  • Draw a robot or alien.


  • Cut pictures out of magazines and make a collage.


  • Look at library books.


  • Ride your scooter.


  • Read to Brody.


  • Make a treat with Mom.


  • Do math on the calculator.


  • Ride your bike down the hill.


  • Count to 101.


  • Do handstands against the wall.


  • Plan an activity to do with Dad.


  • Play Chutes and Ladders with Brody.


  • Call a grandma or grandpa.

And the list goes on. I am looking for some fresh ideas. Someone suggested origami and I thought that was a great idea. I will have to check out a book from the library for that one. I am looking for simple ideas. Things that he would be able to do at home with little or no assistance. He is just someone who has a mind that doesn't stop and sometimes that is exhausting for me! I am glad that he can be a self-starter and create things on his own. Please comment with your suggestions! Our box needs a refresher!

And this picture is just to remind you of how handsome he is. :)


Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Christmas Time

Not really been in the blogging mood lately. This post is for Marsha though cuz she was sick of looking at Halloween. :)




























Thursday, November 4, 2010

Halloween Roundup

We had a great Halloweek this year. We started off with the ward party a week before Halloween. The boys were flying monkeys and I was the Wicked Witch of the West. I even won "Most Unique" chili for a new chicken chili recipe I tried. It was delicious!

Collin had to dress up as a character from a book he read, and the natural choice for him was Percy Jackson. It was an easy costume, and of course we had to include the lightning bolt.

Here is Collin before he went to a Halloween party. He is a dragon from How to Train Your Dragon. He didn't wear the wings because they were too complicated. Everyone thought he was a dinosaur and he kept getting mad. Haha!

Here is my awesome house! It was such a fun, cheap idea, and it looked great!

Rarh!!

Optimus Prime or as Brody says "Octopus Prime". Hehe.

The cutest boys I have ever seen.

I hope everyone had a fun Halloween!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

30 is the New 20






I did not take very many pictures of Darrell's big party! I know, I know, I am terrible. I was just a little overwhelmed and I totally forgot about it. I should have asked somebody else to do it for me. Oh well. We had a great turn out, and we had lots of fun. We had a delicious barbecue with Darrell's fancy meat (tri-tip) that will be the butt of jokes for a while. The theme was based on the wonderful cake that Amber made, sort of a Darrell/USA theme.
We played a Darrell trivia game which Warren won the fabulous prize: a Rubiks cube. Amber wrote down all 50 states the fastest to win a handheld poker game. She actually wrote down 51, but I was not going to double check that list. Haha! Then we had a puzzle-off. There were 6 teams competing to put together their own 60 piece puzzle of the United States to win a paddle ball set. My friends Mary and May won that one.
We also did a pinata, and I am completely surprised that none of the kids got whacked in the head. All in all it was a fun, silly party. I think everyone had a good time! There was good friends and good food. That's all you can ask for in party. We were especially lucky that Darrell's high school friend, Brad, could fly in, as well as Darrell's mom, Barbara. It was fun to catch up. Brad is welcome at my house anytime. The guy cut up the fruit for the party, did dishes, mopped, swept my front porch, and got Darrell to finally hang up some mirrors for me!
Happy Birthday, Darrell!! Our 30's are going to be great!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Stuttering

As many of you know, Collin had a problem with stuttering. He actually was stuttering for a few months when we were in Hawaii, but it went away. Then he started it again when he went into Kindergarten this year. It was a pretty noticeable problem, but we really didn't know what to do. We tried to ignore it for a while, hoping it would go away like it had before. That wasn't working. Sometimes stuttering can be related to stress so we were trying to find out if something was bothering him at home or at school. That is kind of a funny conversation to have with a 5 year old, and we really got nowhere. He seemed to be a happy, smart kid. Darrell decided to take kind of an aggressive approach and make Collin stop what he was saying and start over if he started to stutter. Let's just say that wasn't effective. Even the teacher at school had him see the speech therapist. They said, although he does stutter frequently, it really wasn't considered stuttering, because he didn't have any of the ticks that go with it. As the year went on, and so did the stuttering, I just really was at a loss as to how I could help my child get over this. Was he going to have this his whole life? Finally through all my reading, I found an article that said something that was pretty profound to me. It suggested letting your child finish their sentence no matter how long it took them. Just listen. I had been interrupting him and finishing his sentences, because it took so long to spit out what he was going to say. I tend to rush people, and I had to stop. Let's just say after days and weeks of me being more patient and just letting him finish what he had to say, we are stutter-free!
It's funny how all this time I was thinking that he had a problem that he needed to fix, but really it was me who needed to change. Isn't it funny how we do that a lot in our lives? We think something or someone is doing something wrong and it irritates us, but really, if we just change and improve one small thing then the problem disappears. The answer is to just be more patient and the problems will take care of themselves.
I had an argument this week with a friend that could have been solved by being more patient on my end. I could have listened more and talked less. When things like that happen in my life I like to look at myself and find out how I can improve. What did I do wrong? What can I do differently? I am setting some New School Year's Resolutions (who says you only can do this in January?) to try to improve myself and my family. I can't wait to get back onto a regular schedule when school starts. I think that always helps us to keep on track.
Here are a few of my resolutions:
1. First of all, the obvious one: patience. For some reason lately I have been irritable, and I just need to let things go.
2. Make more of an effort with family. I don't keep in touch with my family or Darrell's family as much as I should. Marsha, you are my hero for knowing how to talk to family and keep people connected.
3. Family Home Evening every week. This sometimes get skipped, because Darrell leaves on Monday nights. We need to plan this for a different day of the week to make sure it always gets done.
4. Scripture reading daily. This is something I do really, really well at for a while and then it falls off again. I need to schedule this into my day and make it a priority.
5. House cleaning. I hate it! But my new plan that has worked so far is to put the kids to bed at 7:30pm and then clean until 8pm. That way the kids are out of the way and it is way easier to get things done.
6. Eat more healthy. I have been having a rough battle with food lately. I am just making easy food, but I need to make sure my diet is more balanced.

There are a few more as well that I want to keep private, but I challenge everyone to make some New School Years Resolutions of your own. I think this is a better time of year to make changes than in January. What are your goals?