Elizabeth was really excited about some of the snow we got last week and had a lot of fun making snow angels, and snow cookies, I got a workout pulling Elizabeth around and around and around in the sled! Last Monday for FHE we decided to play twister as I hadn't quite got a lesson planned out as I'd meant to(though we did watch an Old Testament video after the game). We had so much fun!! I was impressed with how well Elizabeth knew her left and rights, we didn't have to hardly help her at all! We got a Chocolate twister game from my cousin for Christmas so we used and of course ate some of those as well! The week went as usual...the school lesson was "We Can All Get Along" to go along with the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday on Monday. I think Elizabeth got it as well as can be expected...ok well probably better really. She said to me one day "we are all childs of God, no matter what we look like." Proud mama moment! Something I really like about teaching Elizabeth myself is I can include our religious beliefs into her lessons, it was especially nice this past week when learning about segregation and such. We sang "Jesus Said Love Everyone" just about everyday! Friday night we went to my friend Kim and her husband's home for pizza and to play the Wii with them. It was really nice to get out and have some major fun with good friends! Saturday we ran some errands...signed Elizabeth up for swim lessons, as I'd really like her to be able to swim without her water wings by summer, and she's getting to the point where her confidence in the water isn't totally matched by her skill in the water so I'm afraid she'll try something that I'll have to jump in and save her from. Oh and Devin will be starting mommy swimming lessons this summer so I don't want to have to worry too much about Liz. Tony's parents kindly watched the kiddos for us that evening while Tony and I went and saw Beauty and the Beast in 3D, it's my favorite Disney movie! We thought about taking Elizabeth, but she can't see 3D(she has no depth perception which is needed obviously to see 3D) and it was nice to get out just the two of us and we really enjoyed it! After the movie Tony's parents treated us to a delicious spaghetti and meatball dinner...my favorite! We visited with them for a bit them headed home. Well enjoy the pictures! My mom made Elizabeth this super cute paint smock, and Elizabeth loves it! She wants to wear it even if she's just drawing with dry erase markers!
So we haven't been up to much lately really, a couple weekends ago my parents took the kids over night for us so we could do some cleaning and finish packing up all our Christmas stuff. We organized and moved things around in our dining room and it's so nice! I have all of Elizabeth's school and art stuff organized, it's made life so much easier! That Saturday we went up to my parent's and Tony helped my dad finish putting in the wood floor in their entry. Then Tony and I went and saw the Muppet Movie which we liked alright, at times it was a bit too cheesy for me though. During the week it's just been the same old same old. Last week Elizabeth's school lesson was on penguins, she really enjoyed learning about them, she told me Friday, "I like penguins, even if they can't fly! Cause they love to swim like me!!" She's also gaining leaps and bounds with her sight words, she knows over 50! And reading is in turn becoming easier and more fluid for her. I must admit it's a little creepy to see my 3 year old pick up a book and start reading it...don't get me wrong I'm super proud of her! It's just weird to see someone so little reading! She's doing better in math too, and actually kind of enjoys it. She LOVES Science, it indulges her natural curiosity and she still hates writing, but I really think it's because it's all but impossible for a right handed person(me)to help a left handed child(Liz)to write cause where I push the pencil she wants to pull the pencil and vice versa. Ah well she'll get it eventually, right? I've broken her school time into two parts now, in the morning we have the everyday learning stuff (calendar, weather, flash cards, Spanish and ASL) and then the days lesson, then in the afternoon it's workbook time....which is not her favorite time, worksheets mean writing! So lately she's been coming up with the best excuses of why we can't do workbooks. For example she's told me her hands were broken..asleep, and just not working. She'll take as long as possible to eat her snack hoping it'll dip into the time she has to workbooks. She has even tried hiding the workbooks and/or her pencils!! Don't misunderstand she loves doing her workbooks, she's always up for a mental challenge she just does not want to have to write in them...what's a mom-teacher to do?! Elizabeth has been having lots of fun with her easel, and art supplies. Her favorite is painting but as it takes prep and clean-up work she most often uses the dry erase board for her masterpieces. Her latest kick is drawing people and smiley faces. Devin's new thing is using Elizabeth's little princess table as a walker...despite the fact that he has a perfectly good walker toy we got him not long ago! He's getting pretty good at pulling himself up to things and has gotten up one stair and would do more, but I won't let him for obvious reasons. Last Saturday after doing our needed shopping(I love that both kids outgrew their socks at the same time) we went up to my parents house this time to help them move couches downstairs to make way for their new sectional hopefully arriving tomorrow! Then the great room remodel should be complete!! We had a great dinner with them and Eric and Jen. Oh I should mention that we've had a slight calling change in our ward...we're now in the nursery every other week or so. Two Sunday's ago was our first week in there and man is it FUN!! Yesterday we got to go to Relief Society/Priesthood for the first time in over a year! Devin came with me and actually did pretty good! I didn't have to take him out once! Elizabeth is doing really well in Sunbeams! Her teacher told us that she's great in class and knows all the answers(I just hope she's letting other kids get two sense in) and the singing time leader told me yesterday that she sings all the songs, no surprise to me! She loves to sing!! And the best news of all...Devin is finally sleeping in the kids room with Elizabeth!! We just bit the bullet last Sunday and put them to bed together and they did really good all week! Elizabeth loves having her brother in there with her, she goes down to bed so much easier now!! And Tony and I love not having to walk on eggshells at night and in the morning, worrying about waking him up! Well that's about it for now! Enjoy the pictures and videos!
Devin tried really hard to just climb over his activity table to get to those dvds! Luckily he didn't succeed!! Shows over...turn the tv off! Man, math can really take it out of ya!! Devin wasn't so sure about Elizabeth's driving skills...I don't blame him! Devin found Elizabeth's treat she left on her table...taking candy from this baby was sooo NOT easy!! Devin and Elizabeth laughing at the bottle Devin put in his raceway, those two have such a good time together sometimes!!
Elizabeth making Devin laugh like only she can!
Devin and his new trick of walking with Elizabeth's table(sorry about Cheers being on in the background I didn't have time to pause it. Ya gotta capture the moment while it's there!)
Tuesday our sweet boy turned 10 months old! I cannot believe in just two short months we'll be having a birthday party!! It sends chills down my spine! Devin is getting so big! He will smile and wave to you when you do it to him, he's becoming very curious and starting to explore things...for example he loves to find different things to put in his raceway and watch them spin, so far he's put in his bottle, Elizabeth's V-Motion controller, his sippy cup, his binky with and without the clip and numerous small toys. He loves dropping things and watching them fall, he loves putting toys in and out of containers, oooo he really loves dumping things out! He is all over the place now and eating EVERYTHING and ANYTHING in his mouth and unlike Elizabeth telling him no, don't eat ca ca's does no good at all, so I'm constantly following after him or running over to him pulling stuff out of his mouth! It's endless! Devin is really good at getting to the the sitting position all by himself now from any position. He's getting better at standing and cruising furniture. He's still a food pro, in fact he thinks himself too good for puffs and just drops them! He definitely prefers real food. He's becoming quite the mama's boy which proves frustrating sometimes but I really do love my cuddly little boy! I love his big beautiful blue eyes and even more I love his contagious smile!! He absolutely loves his big sister! Elizabeth can make him laugh just by being around him! He is however learning how to get on her nerves by crawling over to her play corner where all her toys are...he doesn't even have to touch anything and she freaks out! One time when Elizabeth took one of his toys from him he crawled right over and started pulling her toys down, putting them in his mouth as fast as he could! It was kinda funny really! He still does have that red hot temper of his though! Could do without that! Oh I almost forgot to mention his 6 teeth!(that he's had for a couple months or so) 4 on top 2 on bottom, and a couple more bottom ones are slowly working their way up. Well here are some pictures to show how our little guy has grown up!
We rang in the New Year up at my parents house. We had a yummy fondu dinner with hush puppies and beef cubes, a variety of BBQ sauces to dip them in, veggies, bread and lots of yummy things to dip in the chocolate and caramel sauces...it was great! We put Devin to bed then about nine we rang in Elizabeth's new year! We found a cute little kit at the store with the basics, a cute little crown thing, horns, and poppers. She had lots of fun with it! The poppers proved a bit difficult as the first two didn't pop, and the horns are hard on a little girl with asthma but she still had fun with them! After we put Elizabeth down for bed. Eric Jen, my mom, Tony and I played a game of Ticket to Ride...I love that game and not just cause I win pretty much every time ;) Then Eric and Jen headed home and my parents Tony and I played a couple more games of Ticket to Ride, counted down the new year and called it a night! We actually went up to my parent's house Friday evening so Tony could help or really put in the wood flooring with my dad in their kitchen/dining room, they didn't quite get it all done though so Sunday we rested and Monday they finished, it proved a bit more difficult than they had anticipated, so we're going to go back up this Saturday to do their entryway. It's gonna look so great when it's all done!! And that was our weekend. As for new years resolutions I do have a few. I'm going to eat healthier and be more active, we're going to the Tetons in July and we'd really like to be in better shape for some hiking there. We're going to do better at having Family Home Evening, and family scripture study. I'd like to get to the temple at least once a month. And I want to do better at cleaning the house! We'll see how well I do!
This past week Devin has really started to grasp onto the crawling thing. His physical therapists gave me some stretching and exercises to do with him to help him and they certainly have!! The kids have had lots of fun playing with all their new Christmas toys and I even caught Elizabeth getting her groove on! Enjoy the pictures and videos!
We were married in the Salt Lake Temple August 4th 2006, and have only grown closer and more in love since! We welcomed our first child, Elizabeth September 12th 2008, and our second, Devin March 3rd 2011. It's been quite the journey so far with plenty of ups and downs, but we grow stronger and closer as we continue in faith.
