Storytime by Brendan

Brendan started off by reading to Paige. Then Eva brought up a chair and soon after Darby did too. They both sat quietly and listened intently. He even stopped after each page to show them pictures. He must have read over a dozen board books to his sisters. It made my heart happy to see it.

First piggyback ride

It didn't last long and he didn't go fast but she loved it.

Genetics

Aren't genetics funny? I often look at my kids and find it interesting the physical traits they inherited from Jason and me. My two oldest children have blue eyes like me. The youngest two are brown eyed. Well really Darby is hazel eyed like her daddy. In fact, she even has the "freckle" in her eye like Jason. Three of the kids also inherited their dad's unfairly long eyelashes. Eva inherited my stumpy ones. Sorry Eva. But she has dimples so I guess that makes up for it. And though Jason and I have straight-as-straight-can-be hair, Darby inherited curly from sisters on either side. And all the kids inherited a set of crooked toes from my side of the family. I just hope that the kids all got my teeth and Jason's eyesight but the older they get, the less likely that looks like its happening. Oh well, I still think they are pretty cute kiddos (I may be a bit biased).

I could just look at these little faces all day.

Dinner

Every Sunday I cook breakfast for dinner. It's a kind of a cool little tradition we have been doing for a while and we all seem to enjoy it very much. Sometimes it turns out better than other times but usually it's pretty good.
Eva and Darby help out, which is sometimes more helpful than others, but generally speaking they are pretty good about following directions. Really it's all about making fun traditions to remember when they are older.

A walk in the park

This Saturday we went to Mazarick Park which is, in my opinion, the prettiest park around (Marin County, I miss you!)
Here are some shots of the kids in the beautiful outdoors and fabulous weather we are having. Yay for the start of autumn.

Goodbye tree

The owners of the home we are renting decide to remove the tree that was struck by lightning. I was sad to see it go as it was a large, stately pine tree in the front yard. However, it was interesting to watch the men being it down piece by piece using ropes, a vehicle, lots of pulling and one brave guy perched atop the tree with a chainsaw cutting off each manageable section. Brendan opted to eat his lunch outside to watch.

Open House

Eva's preschool had their open house this week. She was excited to take us to her school but got sidetracked by toys and her friends so we didn't get a proper tour. But it is the same preschool Brendan went to so we did get to talk to his former teacher, who we LOVE. She couldn't believe how much he'd grown.
The preschool is at the YMCA so it also has a recreational component. They have a climbing wall there and the kids had fun using it. They were fairly good and Jason is anxious to take them to the climbing gym he recently joined.

Toddler fashion

Winter beanie and swimsuit cover up (pilfered from sister's dresser),
Mismatched winter gloves (one Eva's and one long outgrown by Brendan),
One sparkly Mary Jane and one heeled dress shoe (neither of which are hers, and one of which is on the wrong foot),
All over top of her everyday summer outfit of shorts and a shirt.

"I look beautiful, Mom!"

My big helper

As any mom knows letting your kids help you with chores can be a dilemma. On the one hand you want to encourage helping behavior and it's a great time to teach them skills. On the other hand, it often means the job isn't done right or that you have to do it over again.
One day I was folding diaper laundry and Darby came in. "I want to help," she said. I didn't really want her help but I recognized that she would love the opportunity to please me and have a big girl responsibility. The trick was finding a part of folding that she could be successful at (and that I wouldn't have to redo later). I told her that she could get out all the wipes (we use cloth ones) and put them in a pile. This she could do and did happily. I praised her up and down for it.
Fast forward a week and an unfolded basket of diaper laundry was in the living room. I saw her come into the book room where I was helping Brendan with homework carrying a pile of wipes. When I peeked in the living room to see what's up, I saw that she has all the wipes in a tidy little pile and was starting to organize the inserts too. I didn't ask her to. It was so cute. Maybe I'll have a regular laundry helper after all.

The kiddos lately

Difference between boys and girls

Conversation on the car ride home from school:
Mom: How was school?

Brendan: I was on blue today. (Blue means good behavior)

Mom: How was school today?

Eva: Mom I'm hungry. Is it lunchtime? I got a treat for sitting quietly. And I made a new friend today. I sat by her. She had a yellow shirt on. And I played with a boy friend too. I have to find things that start with B. Buh Buh ball and . . .

Next milestone

Look who can sit up by herself? And the army crawl is officially the preferred method of transportation too.

Happy Birthday Daddy Dear

Jason had his birthday on Friday. We had plans for a dinner at the restaurant of his choosing but he got stuck at work until WAY past dinnertime. In fact, I had to keep the kids up late to see Daddy at all. We gave him his present, sang him a song, and then put the kids to bed. His heart's desire was a Lego set of the Firefly cast that I saw online but it was custom-made and unavailable anymore. So I got him a Serenity keychain. The girls colored him a picture.

We went out for breakfast the next morning in hopes of making it up to him. He's so easygoing that he was pleased.
Sorry for the bummer birthday spent at work, Daddy Jason, but we sure are glad that you were born. We love you!!

Gospel Doctrine Release

Jason here. When I got back from Afghanistan I was soon given the calling to be the Gospel Doctrine teacher. Last week I was released to be a secretary in the stake young mens program which is cool.

I loved teaching gospel doctrine, especially from the Book of Mormon. It was a pretty hefty calling actually... 45 minutes of public speaking every week. After a while I felt like I was giving the same lesson over and over. Some weeks I felt inspired, some not so much.

During my last session with the class as a teacher I told them:

"If you know nothing else about Jason McDaniel, I hope you know that I believe the gospel to be true. I would bet my life on it. I also know the Book of Mormon changes lives because it has changed mine. "

While it is a bit weird to quote yourself, I just want my kids or anyone else (but mainly my kids) to know that fact about myself. My wife says I am a confusing enigma combination of individual personality traits but at my core I am a disciple of Christ. At least that is the way I see myself.

For the last 12 months I have had the opportunity to teach and share my testimony of the Gospel. Its been awesome and I will miss it!

First foods

Today Paige is seven months old and I decided we'd try solid foods. With this baby I decided to skip the baby cereal (do an internet search on "infant cereal and amylase" if you want to see reasons why its unnecessary). Her first food was applesauce. She was unimpressed. She refused to open her mouth and when she finally did get a taste, she looked slightly insulted. Guess mother's milk is just that awesome. We'll try again later.

When Daddy plays My Little Pony

Starts off nice and sweet

And quickly deteriorates into chaos

My Little Pony jousting