Puppy Love

  

Paige and Stella spend the most time together by virtue of her being the only kid at home all day. And Stella actually listens to her fairly well. Paige loves to lay on her and, if she's relaxed, she allows it. Its very cute how they interact.  Here they are watching birds in the backyard and getting kisses. Sweet little girls.

Darby turns 7!!

Darby's birthday was on the 29th. Her dad and I woke her with a big "Happy Birthday!" It was a Sunday so she didn't have go to school but her birthday dinner at a restaurant would be postponed  until tomorrow as well.  She opened her presents before church. She's self conscious about her missing front teeth so her smiles are all somewhat small.

Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Jerry gave her an amazon gift card worth $25. She's saving it for a new Lalaloopsy doll.

Grandma Caren made her a nightgown with a matching one for her doll. She LOVED that.

And Jason and I gave her two new Ever After dolls. I think she liked them too.

 The whole haul. :)

Great Grandma Evie sent a birthday card with cash the next day. Darby is well on her way to that new doll.

After church I made her favorite meal of sausage and pepperoni stromboli. She got to pick the game we played for Family Game Night too.

She wore her new pajamas to bed.

After school today we celebrated her birthday with a trip to Famous Dave's. This girl is a carnivore and loves BBQ. We will have cake and ice cream on Girlday in a week and a half.

Darby is a creative, stubborn, free-spirited, artistic, independent, generous and strong little girl. She brings music and art to our family. I am so glad that she is a part of it. Happy Birthday Darby!!

Paige's Ears

So we were playing a family board game tonight. All of a sudden, Paige tells us that the inside of her ear hurts. Knowing her like I do, I asked, "Did you put anything in it?"

Paige says "In my class I did." That was 6 hours ago. 

"What was it?"

"A tiny purple ball."

"Did you take it out?" 

"Yes," she says cheerily and I am relieved.

"But then I put it back in."

Sigh.

Jason uses a flashlight and, sure enough, a purple ball is in her ear canal. He gets his loupes to see better and tries to suck it out with a straw. No luck. And so he uses a paper clip with superglue on the end. After a bit of finesse, it comes out. She's wiggling and in tears the whole time.

"Where did you get the ball, Paige?"

She answers very animatedly, like I should already know. "It was on the floor in my classroom."

I ask her why she stuck something she found on the floor in her ear.

"I don't know. Maybe I thought it was fun." 

Sigh. 

A Sweet Experiment- Part One

   This is Brendan. (First blog post in a while, I know. I've been busy with other things.) Mom made cookies today, but when the first batch came out, they were all flat! She was going to make cookies in two other different ways, and I decided to make a science experiment out of it.  It was entirely MY idea, too. (The cookies weren't though.) Everyone loves it when Mom bakes cookies.

   (P.S. Did you notice that the title is a pun?)
   (P.P.S. The experiment report will be on the blog next, since right now I should be reading but didn't want the computer holding a half-written post all night.)

Military Devotional

Last night there was a special military fireside for 20 stakes in the area. We were just lucky enough to have it at our stake center. Elder Rasband and Elder Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came to speak especially to military members. It was an experience not many have. See that microphone? Yep, we were 9 rows from an apostle!

When we told the kids last week they were excited. However, we knew Paige couldn't handle being reverent that long and that late so she went to a sitter. When the day came, the older three weren't so sure they wanted to go (playing at a sitter's house sounded fun) but we made them come. 

We were told to arrive early and be in our seats by 6:45. Elder Rasband and Elder Ballard came in around that time and began to shake hands and greet people. Unfortunately, neither made it to our row. However, because everyone came early the meeting started early, which was great!

The musical number was perhaps my favorite part of the evening. The Spirit was strong. I was tearing up and I saw Elder Ballard wipe away a tear too. A member of the Seventy spoke first and then Elder Rasband. I loved it. He focused on never needing to feel alone because we have the Holy Ghost and Heavenly Father loves us. I felt such peace. The kids were being good too. Brendan was so relaxed that he laid his head on me (he's not a cuddler so that's unusual). One highlight was that we were supposed to have a big storm today. Elder Rasband told us that he and Elder Ballard prayed for two days that the weather would permit our meeting. All we had today was some rain.

Then Elder Ballard spoke. It turns out that this military meeting was his idea and that he likes to do this whenever he is somewhere where there is a large military population. He arranged this one as well.

In his talk he told about his time in the military. He thanked the military families for their service. He reminded us that we are fighting a war against sin and need to stand up for Christ. He also bore sweet testimony of Jesus and His love for us. It was a peaceful and happy time. The kids were quiet and well behaved. I was very grateful.

At the end Elder Ballard asked if we would mind if they didn't stay and shake everyone's hand. He said, "I'm 88 years old and out of gas". Brendan was slightly disappointed but it was okay. 

It was a lovely night.

Dog Training

A few months ago we had a problem. The training of the dog was only happening with Jason and I. The kids weren't taking any responsibility for training, walking or feeding the dog. And when she was a problem (crazy puppy behavior), they wouldn't do what we said to correct the behavior. Most of them would just yell at her or push her, generally among the problem worse.

So we made a deal with them. Each person in the house, even Paige, has to go through a series of five commands with Stella (sit, stay, shake, leave it and with touch) 25 times. When we met the goal, the reward would be banana splits. We kept track on a chart on the fridge.

It took us a while (some longer than others) to reach the goal but last week we did. We went out for ice cream on Tuesday. We each got 2 scoops of our choice. It was yummy but I was reminded why banana splits are a once-in-a-while treat. So sugared out!! But the kids were proud of themselves.

Now we have a better trained dog, more confident kids with the dog and a dog who listens to even the 4 year old. We will keep training her and maybe add new "tricks" to keep it fun. Stella is still a puppy and needs mental exercise and consistent discipline but things are better. 

Yay for reaching goals!!

First Snow

This morning we woke up to a light dusting of snow. The kids were excited but were expecting a blizzard like last year. The only playing you could really do at that point was catch snowflakes on your tongue, which Eva did.

It was the first time Stella had experienced snow and I wanted to see how she would react. She is part husky after all. She seemed curious but unimpressed until the snow really started coming down.

Then she romped and played and wouldn't come inside.
 

The kids dressed up in snow gear and went out into the D to play with friends or in the backyard to romp with the snowdog.

 

One last picture of our husky mix since it really shows off her eye color. :)

 

Accidental Adventure

Since New Years Day was on a Sunday this year, the observed holiday date was Monday. Jason and the kids had work/school off and we decided that we needed to have one last fun trip before it all started up again. We were going to go to the outlet mall and play in the playground, look at the Lego Store, etc but on our way we passed by a sign that said there was a B Thrifty Superstore. We love thrifting from our early days in AZ and so we decided to pull over and try it. It was HUGE and we found a lot we wanted. The kids were happy to get something new and we were happy to pay the inexpensive prices. New books, new jeans, some toys, a board game were all things we found in great shape. We will definitely be back. And to top it off, I noticed that next door was an indoor playground. Yes!

After shopping we spent an hour or so jumping on bouncy houses, climbing through jungle gyms and shooting air guns.

On the way home we found a Baskin Robbins ice cream parlor. YUM! I love it when we happen upon awesome places by accident.

Sickness

December has been a month of sickness for my house. It began in November as I had a severe sore throat for Thanksgiving. Fun.

Then the kids fell one by one throughout December. Brendan was sick over the weekend but felt better on Monday. However, as soon as he got to school he threw up again. So it was home for two days for him. He went back to school for the last day before vacation.

Eva and Darby each got a 24 hour bug. 

Later I got sick again, the vomit kind of sick. I haven't been that sick in years. I could barely get off the couch.

Paige came down with it the hardest though. She was sick for almost 4 days. she was throwing up so much I was afraid she'd be dehydrated. And she spiked a high fever. I was so worried.

Throughout all of Winter Break we have had on and off sickness at our house causing plans to change, friends to not come over and lots of resting. Its been a hard month. Even now, Eva stayed home from church due to throwing up last night and a fever today. Sigh.

New Years Eve

Since we spent the morning ice skating, we got home and I quickly made the NYE snacks. The kids cleaned up and we started the movie. We watched Wives and Daughters this time. We told the kids that they could stay up as long as they wanted tonight but they had to be watching the movie with us or reading/playing quietly in the family room. Brendan and Eva chose to read their new books from Christmas. Darby and Paige wanted to watch the movie. The two youngest beings in the house made it to just after 9pm before they were out.

Darby managed to make it until 11:40pm until she fell asleep sitting up. So close to midnight!

Daddy woke her up and gathered the two oldest in from the other room for our New Years toast. Then they all went to bed and we finished up our miniseries. I was impressed with the "sleep stamina" of the older kids but worried about church behavior tomorrow. Luckily, our ward moved to the 1pm starting time slot. :)