What A Week!!

Last Monday Elizabeth started her theater class with UP For Kids, and she absolutely LOVED it! Her teacher loved her enthusiasm and all her expressions!! Her teacher Amber told me at one point she had to tell Elizabeth to actually tone it down a notch! And apparently Elizabeth can cry on cue....why am I not surprised?! Needless to say she is going to do so well with this acting thing! Amber sent her home with some lines to memorize, just to practice memorizing. It's "Snowflakes are perfect gifts from the sky, each one unique like you and I." Ya she had it memorized by Wednesday....they have til next week to keep working on it. ;) Tuesday I took the kids to the library as they begged to go the day before, then we went to Seagull Book and Tape, remember I told you Elizabeth got me a book for my birthday? Well I read it in one day and was totally sucked into the series(there are 4 books) so I just had to go get the second book with some of my birthday money! That evening was piano and tumbling. Wednesday when I went to pick Devin up from preschool, the teacher asked to talk to me....it wasn't for good reasons. Devin has been having lots of meltdowns there and they said they struggle a bit with some of his OCD tendencies. For example just that day he saw a little boy get a band-aid for his scraped and bleeding knee, so he went over and wanted a band-aid too. They told him he had to have an owie that was bleeding to get a band-aid and he didn't so he didn't need a band-aid so he had a meltdown, and when that was ignored he somehow cut his finger making it bleed, then he went to his teacher and said he needed a band-aid...and indeed he did! What is a teacher to do?!! She couldn't reward him for harming himself to get what he wanted(though with his pain tolerance he didn't feel any pain from it) but by law she has to treat the wound. Can we say conundrum?!! She wisely ended up taking him to the office where he received a bland non-colorful, no fun band-aid for his finger, then got talked to about not giving yourself owies.  We talked about how we and they respond to certain behaviors and made sure to be on the same page. We discussed his OCD and their concerns and she wanted to be sure we were good with how they handle things with him. All in all I feel like it was a productive meeting that will help Devin immensely, I just can't believe he's only been in school two weeks, and only three days since he missed a day to illness before we had to have this talk! Little stinker!! They did say he's a very smart boy and they love that he answers questions and interacts with them during circle time...so it wasn't all trouble stuff. ;)  Wednesday evening we took Elizabeth to JC Penny to have her birthday pictures taken and we took her Frozen stuff, and she wore her Frozen outfit. The pictures turned out SUPER adorable!! Friday my wonderful friend Miss Heather Marie came up about 3 and my kids went up with their Nana. Heather and I chatted for a bit, then went to Cracker Barrel for dinner which was of course delicious!! Then she surprised me by telling me my amazing husband had set the whole thing up as he wanted me to have a girl's night out, so after dinner Heather and I went to Message Envy and got messages(she works at a different Message Envy) one of her friends from school did my message and it was absolutely wonderful! After that we went and got yummy ice cream at Sub Zero, while we chatted some more. Then she drove me home and we sat in the driveway and talked for over an hour. It was such a great night!! And the BEST belated birthday gift EVER!! Saturday morning we did our grocery shopping, and Elizabeth used the birthday money from her great grandparents Walker's to buy an outfit and little dog(with matching fashion cape) for her American Doll, it even came with a little leash so she can pretend to walk the dog....it's really cute and Elizabeth has had a lot of fun with it! After lunch the kids played downstairs and we went up to help out my parents as we were having the September birthdays party for my family there later that afternoon....mostly we just watched the BYU football game. At 4pm we did have to turn in off for the party though. The party went very well, Elizabeth was thrilled to get a color yourself wall clock from my Aunt Susan, and a Barnes and Noble gift card from her cousin Daniel(and was glad it was changed from his original choice of a Cabella's gift card ;) ) And she really loved the fun Barbie from her Aunt Jen!! After the party my parents kindly treated us to dinner of Sill's Cafe to go! After we put the kids to bed we finished watching the football game, and called it a night! Sunday Tony's tummy wasn't feeling well so we didn't go to the Ogden Temple dedication, but we did get some organizing done around the place! That afternoon we drove down to the Nester's house to celebrate Landen and Elizabeth's birthdays. Johnny grilled up hamburgers and hot dogs, we brought the buns and stuff to put on them, and everyone else brought a side dish to share, it was a good dinner! Then we did presents, Landen kidly let Elizabeth go first! She got wonderful gifts, Lego sets from the Nester's and Matt and family. A cute stuffed bear from her great grandma Johnston, an American Girl Barnes and Noble gift card from her Aunt Alicia and family. A Barbie from Her Uncle Russ and family...mostly Melina ;) and her Johnston grandparents gave her a butterfly pillow pet and super cute Y shirt with shorts. Grandpa Johnston made her an Elsa cake, which she loved! And the rest of the night was spent visiting! What a great week!

Here are some pictures from the Holbrook party Saturday.

And here are the pictures from the Johnston party on Sunday!

Elizabeth's 6th Birthday Celebrations!!

Friday September 12th our baby girl turned SIX years old!! We can't believe it! But let's go back a day for a sec. The previous day is as you know is 9/11 and I've always had a hard time knowing how to tell Elizabeth about that day, so until this year I never have...and in truth I wasn't planning on doing it this year either, but she saw on the calendar that it was Patriot Day and wanted to know why and what that meant. So thanks to the History Channel for kids website and an awesome book I bought at a Scholastic clearance sale over the summer(called September 12th, written by a fist grade class), we talked about what happened on that tragic day 13 years ago.  She was as she always is very teachable asking great questions. She was shocked that something like that could happen, which led us into a great discussion about our freedom and the men and women who fight to keep it everyday. She read about the plane that was headed for the White House and the brave passengers who gave their lives to stop that from happening.  And we had an absolutely amazing discussion about what a hero REALLY is. (I'm in tears just remembering it) We did get to math or spelling or anything else actually and yet I feel like Elizabeth learned more that morning than she did all week. When all was said and done, she went and told Devin all she had learned about that special day and I couldn't help but smile and tear up a bit. I packed Elizabeth an overnight bag as she was going to her first BYU football game with her grandma and grandpa Johnston and spending the night in their trailer. Devin was devastated that he wasn't getting to go, but Elizabeth was super excited!! I drove to Rich and Sandy's work at noon to drop Elizabeth off with them, and had to get Devin some "cool blue" gatorade as he calls it to console him. When we got home he was still sad so I let him watch his favorite movie, Super Buddies...anyone who knows Devin knows to key to his heart is through a screen....sad but true! He perked right up after that! Tony called in a to go order at Texas Road House that we ate while watching the game, Devin was hoping to see sissy on the t.v. but somehow we just never saw her ;).  Friday morning Devin and I went to Walmart to get some things to decorate and have for Elizabeth's birthday, then he played while I decorated the school room with Frozen stuff! Tony's parents dropped her off just shortly after I finished, so it was great timing! After hearing about all the fun Elizabeth had and how great she did, we commenced her Frozen Party! We had lots of fun! For dinner she requested to go to McDonalds and play at the play place, my parents joined us. The kids had fun playing for a good long time, then we came home and Elizabeth got to open her presents. My parents got her the movie Barbie and The Pony Tale, and the Barbie stable set that goes with the movie, that comes with two ponies and the little barbie girl and the tween barbie girl, as well as the Barbie from the movie in her dress from the Gala part of the movie. Oh and the Barbie card they gave her had a Barbie dress attached as part of the card! Elizabeth was thrilled and has played with it non-stop since! Devin gave her an Elsa puzzle which she is very excited to put together, and we gave her an Elsa bag full of fun Frozen things, like an Elsa personal dry erase board, and Elsa and Anna t-shirt with sparkle pants to match, an Olaf art set a book of Frozen stickers and a Elsa and Anna water bottle. Her big gift from us was the Elza and Anni dolls set, which she was super excited about and has also played with a lot! Instead of a cake we did pink snowball treats to go with the Frozen theme. We sang to her and she blew out her number six candle then played with her new toys, until her later than usual bedtime. She said it was a GREAT birthday! Saturday she wore her new Frozen outfit and we went to Chuck E Cheese for her friend birthday party, her friends Liza, Lilly and Phenley joined her and Devin(though Devin just did his own thing mostly) Elizabeth took turns doing rides and games with each of her friends, though Liza and Lilly and Elizabeth and Phenley seemed to pair off quite a bit. It was a very fun party and everyone seems to have a grand time. I loved not having to set up or clean up, or have to entertain the kids even! It was truly great! Elizabeth ended up with over 1800 tickets! So she got a pink stuffed Webkins poodle dog, and large slinky and some other little things. Devin got three things and didn't want anymore so Liz got his extra tickets. After the party we stopped by the house to drop stuff off and get some stuff then we drove to Gateway Mall in Salt Lake and both kids napped pretty much the whole way there. We went to Build a Bear to use Liz and my birthday coupons as well as a couple gift cards we had, Elizabeth just got clothes and accessories as she doesn't need anymore stuffed animals, though it was a struggle to make her believe that and we almost left with nothing! After Build a Bear we went to Barnes and Noble where Elizabeth read a few book while the rest of us looked around. Devin found a Step Into Reading Bold book that he just had to have, and I found him a Paw Patrol one as well, though he couldn't seem to understand he could get and have both of them, silly boy. Elizabeth once again almost got taken out with nothing over her desire to get a needless stuffed dog, but shaped up and ended up getting the American Girl book Meet Caroline. Then we stopped by the T Mobile store as Tony's phone was having issues and they were very helpful(Tony got a replacement phone yesterday!) Then we went to an early dinner at Applebees. After that Tony spoiled me at Bath and Body works letting me get 5(they had buy three get two free) boy washes and two super yummy smelling three wick candles(they were 2 for $22), then to top it all off we got delicious chocolate treats from Rocky Mountain Chocolate! It was a great day!!

The SUPER fun Frozen party!!!

In this fun game you roll the dice to build Olaf...but if you roll the sun he melts and you have to start all over! She has a blast!!

She put together this Anna puzzle pretty much all by herself!

The Frozen Scavenger hunt!

Here's a video of the rest of it.

Opening Presents!

Birthday Party at Chuck E. Cheese!