Mother Daughter Dinner

Every year Emily's Activity day leaders help the girls with a mother daughter dinner. It is always so fun.

This year they asked us to bring things like fabric, ribbon, flowers, or anything of that nature that we have laying around the house. The catch was we did not know what it was for. (The girls did)

When we arrived they told us that our daughters were going to design us garbage bag dresses for the evening. They gave each of us a black garbage bag and our daughters decorated it for us.

Emily was all about putting everything she could on my dress. I tried to let her do what she wanted, but there were a couple of times when I said, "Don't you think that would look better." Like when she wanted to attach a giant blue bow on my butt.

After they were finished we went in for dinner and then had a fashion show. For the fashion show the girls had to say what gave them their inspiration. Emily said "Anything that would torture my mom."

Her design was a mix of things from every season. She was very proud of it, and I think I had the most decorated dress of the night.

It was a fun night, and I love spending time with Emily, even when she is trying to torture me. (I can always get her back!)

On The Move

Valerie has been very busy the past couple of months learning new things.

She is getting very good at using her three words to tell us what she wants.......DADA, MAMA, and BABA (bottle)

She loves to play Peek-a-boo and has figured out that it is even more fun when she is in charge of the blanket.

And after weeks of building her muscles and attempting to drag herself where she wants to go, she has now mastered the art of crawling. She started being a little mobile a few weeks ago, and now she is an expert crawler.

She is very good at getting where she wants to go, but if mom and dad are close, she still tries to look cute to see if we will just come and pick her up.


Her biggest motivation is when she sees any telephone, remote control, or Wii controller that may be within her reach. The kids have had to learn that even if they are just going to the bathroom or getting a drink, they need to put their controllers up high. Otherwise Valerie will get them. I almost think she just sits and waits for them to set one down, because the minute it hits the floor, she takes off after it.




Life is getting a little busier at our house.

A Letter to Emily

This week Emily was the Cool Kid in her class. In years past this has meant printing off pictures and making a poster board that they can display in the class all week. So I was surprised this year when the note came home and asked for a baby picture, and a letter to Emily telling her why we loved her, and why she is special. This would not be a problem, except the teacher would be reading the letter to the class.

I do not feel that writing is one of my best things. There have been many times that I have wanted to blog about something and end up not doing it, because I can't express how I am feeling the way I want to. There are people who read my blog, who I am sure cringe every time I write, because of all of the grammatical errors. Plus I am somewhat hesitant at expressing my personal feelings, because they might not come across the way I want them to. So having to write a personal letter to my 10 year old daughter, to be read in front of 5th graders was quite a daunting task for me. I knew if I got too mushy or said the wrong thing, Emily would be the one who suffered for it.

I spent a few days thinking about all of the things I wanted to say. I even asked Emily if there where things she did not want me to say. She could not think of anything, but she told me to put something funny in it and DO NOT EMBARRASS HER. The problem is all of the funny things I could think of to say would have probably embarrassed her.

The night before her spotlight, I sat down and started typing. Once I had all of the things I wanted to say down, Ryan polished it and added a few things. Emily was asleep when we finished, so I sealed the letter in an envelope and put it with her school things.

I wondered all day how it had gone.

When Emily came home she said. "I loved your letter mom, and thanks for not embarrassing me."

They did not read the letter until after lunch, and Emily said that she was nervous all morning. Her friends laughed at the right things and thought it was great too. Now that I have the approval of the 5th grade, I wanted to post the letter on my blog, because Emily is a great daughter and I want everyone to know how much we love and appreciate her.

(This is the picture she took to school. We call it "Queen Emily")

Dear Emily,

You are such an important part of our family, and we are glad we have the opportunity to write this letter to you, to tell you how special you are and just how much we love you.

You were a very stubborn and determined child who knew what she wanted and did not back down. As soon as you could talk you started to tell us that you were the boss. We finally gave in and agreed that you were a little boss in charge of your toys, and we were the big bosses. You were happy with that for about one day and then you told us that the "Little Boss" was in charge. While this was a challenge for us, we hoped that you would carry that determination and confidence throughout your life.

Even though you had your own ideas of how things should be done, and what we were doing wrong, you always had the desire to do good and follow the rules and guidelines that were set for you. Because of this we have been able to be confidant as your parents that when you are not with us we can trust you to make good choices.

You are the best big sister and your brothers love you to death. They look up to you so much and are always talking about you and the things you say and do. You are so nice to them, and you are very patient with them, even when they attack you.

Being the oldest means a lot more responsibility gets put on you. You are such a great helper. Whenever we ask you to do things you quickly do it, and usually do not complain. We are so grateful for that. Sometimes dad calls you Cinder Emily, but it is only because we know we ask more of you. Without you things would not go as smoothly in our home.

You are a very smart young woman. You have always loved to read and be read to. You have always been interested in learning new things and discovering the wonders of the world around you. We know that if you stay focused, you will be very successful.

Your imagination is one of the many gifts you have. We are always impressed with the things you come up with, and how well you can entertain yourself and the people around you with no more than a backyard and a stick. You have always had this imagination, even when you were very young.

You are a good friend and are always kind and thoughtful to those around you. You always see the best in people, and make friends easily.

You have many more great talents and abilities, and we love watching you grow and develop new loves and interests. You are a great example to your siblings and a great daughter. It is a blessing to have you in our family. We hope you know how much we love you. You are the best!

Love,

Mom and Dad

Just Like Dad

The boys have been waiting all winter to use their yellow shovels. Unfortunately for them it has been a very mild winter and there has not been much snow to shovel. (Ryan has not been sad at all that he has only had to shovel snow a couple of times this year.)

Friday morning we woke up to several inches of snow on the ground. As soon as the boys noticed their dad outside shoveling, they grabbed their coats, and headed out to help.

The boys love doing things with their dad, and try to be just like him.
They said that they did not need gloves, because dad wasn't wearing any.

Ryan assigned them a section of the driveway and they went to work.

When Ryan started down the sidewalk they followed. Cleaning up the snow dad left behind. They had a good time, and Ryan was happy to have the help.

No More Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

I love my kids and am always amazed at how much they understand and the way that they process information.



A few days ago Joe came home and announced that we could no longer sing the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes."

I said, "Why not? I love that song."

He told me that it would make us sick.

I was not quite sure where he was going with this so I asked how.



I then got the look that means duh mom! and he said..............

"When you touch your eyes mouth and nose you can get germs in your body and get sick!"

That is Joe, always thinking.

So for all of you teachers and primary choristers who love to sing that song, you better have the hand sanitizer ready, or Joe won't sing.

Little Girls, Who'd Have Em?

We would often hear my Grandpa Atkin say this when the family got together.

It was funny to all of us, because out of the 24 grandchildren, there are only 6 boys. Three of those boys are some of the youngest, and were not born until after I was in high school. So needless to say our family events were always full of little girls, and my Grandpa loved it!

Last week, at the age of 90 my Grandpa passed away. I loved his sense of humor, and his quiet way of doing things to make my Grandma happy. There were three things I have always been sure of when it came to my Grandpa. He loved his family, the gospel, and most of all he loved my Grandma, and wanted her to be happy.

As my family gathered together I found it fun to look at my parents grandchildren, and see that just as my grandparents family was full of little girls, my parent's family is full of little boys. They have 13 grandchildren and only 3 of those are girls. Our family gatherings are full of little boys.

My sister 's daughter, Bethany, is the only girl at their house, so she is always excited to come visit and see her big girl cousin Emily, and Baby Balerie. They arrived Tuesday night and when I opened the door Bethany had a big smile on her face and said "We are at Baby Balerie's house." Then just like the last time they came to visit Bethany gave Valerie all of the love and attention she needed.

Bethany loves to play little mother, and she LOVES to be pretty. To her the color pink is not called pink it is called pretty.

Two days before the funeral my sister, Ellen, found a "pretty" dress, with matching shoes at the store, and bought them for Bethany. Ellen decided that it would be fun if Valerie had a matching dress since Bethany loves her so much.

When they returned from the store, Bethany immediately put on her pretty dress and wore it for the next two days. (except when she was sleeping.) She would go around showing everyone her pretty dress. The morning of the funeral, she put on her pretty dress, her mom did her hair and she came out looking very pretty.

When I pulled out Valerie's dress and began putting it on her I could tell Bethany was not sure that she liked the idea of having a twin. Then when we all started telling Valerie that she was pretty too, Bethany was done with that dress and wanted her other one on. She cooperated enough to get a few pictures, and then she went to find her other dress.

When she found it she brought it to Valerie and showed her that she had another pretty dress. (I thought it was really cute and funny.) Ellen really didn't want to change her, because we thought it would be fun for them to match. But Bethany was not going to have competition.

A few days later, after they returned home, Ellen showed Bethany the pictures we had taken of her and Valerie. She loves the pictures, and still wants to wear the dress everyday.

"Little Girls, Who'd Have Em?...........

Us's That Got Em!"

Consumed By Video Games

We introduced video games into our house just before Josh turned 2. Even though he could not play them he was mesmerized by them and had to hold a controller. Joe and Emily are pretty good about Video games. They like to play them, but if there is something else to do they will go do it. However Josh just wants to play Video games ALL THE TIME!

To him there is only one activity worth doing and that is playing the Wii. He does not want to play with friends, or go to preschool. He has even started passing up going on outings with me, which is something he use to always love to do. Now when I ask if he wants to go to the store, he says no I will just stay here.

I never felt like I really needed to limit Emily and Joe with Video games, because they were good about turning it off when I told them too, and not really spending too much time on it. (Joe has gotten a little worse now that he is older) But now that I have a 4 year old who is already ruining his life over Video games, I have had to change the rules, and I am up for suggestions.

Plan #1
I started by only letting them play an hour a day, and that worked for a bit, but after a few days when Josh had to turn it off he started following me around the rest of the day crying, whining, screaming and stomping his feet because he didn't get to play long enough.

This was not good for me. I told him if he kept doing that then he would not get to play the next day, but that meant nothing to him. So I reevaluated my plan.

Plan #2

The next thing I tried was having them do chores to earn their video game time.

Emily has always been a really good helper around the house, and will do anything for money. To get the boys to clean anything is like pulling teeth and money means nothing to them. However extra video game time is like gold especially for Josh. He will do anything for more Wii time. This was working most of the time, but now I feel like all we do is bribe Josh with the Wii to get him to do anything.

If he will clean his room, or pick up the front room, the toy room.
If he will ride his bike for a while or play outside. I have even had to use it to get him to play with friends.

You can see how we have gotten in a bad cycle. Then last night I really needed the kids to get some things done, so I told them if they did it, they could play Wii all day today. (knowing that they had school for part of the day.) The kids did everything I asked and did not complain. They went to bed on time and everyone seemed happy. Then at 3:00am Ryan rolled over to find Josh standing next to the bed.

"It's morning I am ready to play Wii all day!"

Of course Ryan sent him back to bed, and he eventually went back to sleep.


PLAN #3

Only play Wii on Saturdays?


To be honest I really don't mind my kids playing Video games a little bit each day. I find it gives us a little bit of down time, and I can usually get a few things done while they are playing. (unless I play with them.)

PLAN #4

I guess I will just keep limiting his time and introducing him to other things, and when he is a little older he will find other things he enjoys..................or he will just be old enough to stop following me around screaming and crying when he has to turn it off. (He does get sent to time out for that, and the Wii does not come back on.)

The Wii is consuming Josh's life.

There is so much more in life to be excited about, what can I do to help him figure this out?

I don't feel like this is a power struggle between us. I just feel like that is all he thinks or cares about.

Let me know if you have any ideas!