Love at Home

Well, it's been a while but since I'm pregnant I'm not even going to let myself feel guilty for taking so long to post an update on the days of our lives. Hahaha. Since we last met, we've experienced a couple of birthdays, a couple of creative projects for ME, and more than a couple of meltdowns from the children. Hence the title. Love at Home is a concept we have been trying to work very hard on for the last couple of weeks. A combination of factors has contributed to the lack of respect, obedience, and good behavior emanating from my children -- between my morning sickness and the kids' regular sickness (which started with Grace's strep throat and then straggled out to each and every child one after the other with any and all other kinds of sicknesses until finally ending BACK on Grace with another bout of strep throat) there has been a whole lot of TV watching and not a whole lot of responsibility enforcement going on. But now that everyone is finally feeling better (me included!) the buck is stopping here.

As of 2 weeks ago, the kids are now required to do chores BEFORE school (which doesn't start until 9, so they should have MORE than enough time to get it done). If it doesn't get done before school they have to do an extra chore after school as a consequence and they aren't allowed to earn their privilege for the day (3o minutes of computer time or watching a show on TV). The only way to earn a privilege is to do chores. Although of course there have been a few times I've caved and given them more time then they've technically earned. Or even earned at all. Overall, it's been working pretty well. There's only been a couple of days where chores weren't finished before school, and I'm pretty sure that Sophie and Grace hated having to help me fold and put away the SIX loads of laundry after school that day and they'll NEVER let it happen again.

We had a family meeting today after church to try and refocus our efforts which have not gone quite as well during week 2 of our experiment. Aside from a certain first-born child who shall remain nameless, the kids all seemed to be pretty cooperative and willing to try and increase the love in our home for the upcoming week. We asked each child to think of one thing they could do this week to help us have more love and then write it on a piece of paper to hang in their room where they can see it every day. I'm sure you're dying to know what their responses were, so here they are: Ethan --"play together"; Grace -- "this week I will do services" [as in she will do service for different family members]; and Sophie -- "I will be kind and nice to my family." And in case you're wondering what I will be working on this week, here is MY poster message -- "I will use my voice to speak kindly and not yell at the kids." A noble goal indeed.

Anyway, that has been the biggest thing going on in the last couple of weeks of our life. Not all that glamorous or exciting, but hey my life isn't ALWAYS as entertaining and action-packed as it may seem. Hahaha. Here is what else that has been on the docket:


Sophie turned 4!

That little supermuppet. When we last left off, she had been dealt a few consequences for improper scissor usage. Well. Let's just say that she has a problem. Hahahaha. Despite having gathered up and put all scissors out of her reach (or so I thought), she managed to cut 2 different dresses that she was wearing on 2 different days. The first time it happened I sent her to her room for a very extended time out. The second time it happened I sent her up to her room for the whole day and told her she could only come down to eat lunch. I eventually caved and let her come down about half way through nap time, BUT I gave her a final consequence that no amount of tears or begging could make me reconsider. No birthday party for Sophie. I was planning on letting her invite the little girls from her Sunbeam class at church, but to be honest, I was really glad that I had an excuse NOT to throw a full on party. Talk about exhausting. She was more than a bit upset, but after I reassured her that we would still celebrate as a family she quickly got over her misery. And (fingers crossed) has gotten her cutting bug out of her system.

Her birthday was on a Monday so we thought Saturday afternoon would be an easier time for cake and presents. I didn't even bother making a cool cake for her this year. She can't eat it anyway because of her allergies, so I was more than happy when all she wanted was strawberry shortcake (with angel food cake).







On her actual birthday day, I let her pick out these flowers at the grocery store and let her choose her favorite meal for the special day. Sophie scored major brownie points with me when she decided that chicken nuggets and crinkly fries were the ticket. No complaining here. It doesn't get much easier than that! Hahaha.






She wanted me to get a picture of her outfit for the day...


And here she is in her new birthday dress from her Granny...

(Consequently, Sophie has been single-handedly trying to bring back the side ponytail for the last month.)

Love at First Sight
Jane has officially found her first movie love. "The All-New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking." Not to be confused with the "Pippi Longstocking" version from the 60's that we got from the library LAST year. This one is a bit more musical and apparently my kids like musicals. Ethan's first movie obsession as a toddler was "The Sound of Music," Grace's was "Annie," and Sophie's was The Backyardigan's "International Super Spy." Hahahahahaha. Apparently all of my children have slightly addictive personalities. Here is Jane entranced by her favorite freckle-faced red head girl on the portable DVD player that we originally bought for long road trips in the car. The kids have long since brought them in to use in addition to the 2 TVs and DVD players we already have inside the house.


{Side story. So, in the movie the theme song is about Pippi and has a phrase that repeats itself quite a few times and says -- "Pippi Longstocking is coming into your world, a freckle-faced red head girl you oughta know...." All the kids have watched the movie dozens of times at this point and the other day on the way to preschool I was giving Sophie a stern talking to about being kind to everyone in her class. Sophie can be a bit of a bearcat at times and there is a particular boy in her class that for some reason she clashes with all the time. So, as I was telling her for the umpteempth time that she needed to be nice to this boy, she gives me this look of complete indignation and says "Mom! I only like freckle-faced red head GIRLS, not freckle-faced red head BOYS!" What am I going to do with this child??}


A Project or Two

So, since we've moved into our house, the color of our bedroom has driven me crazy. For whatever reason, this particular shade of blue made our bedroom (which is kind of big) feel even more cavelike and not restful at ALL to me. Scott was not nearly as bothered by the color and didn't feel like it was worth the trouble to paint it. But, after 6+ months of being bugged by the color, I finally took matters into my hands and painted it myself. As soon as my 1st trimester was over I started feeling better almost instantaneously and one morning after dropping the kids off at school I decided to seize the day and headed on over to Home Depot where I picked up a couple of gallons of Ralph Lauren's "Antique Bone" (mixed up ever-so-much-more-cheaply in a Behr paint base). I had to break the room up into 2 days of painting -- after all there's only so long that I can paint undisturbed without worrying about what the kids are doing downstairs -- but in the end, the room looks 500 million percent better. Hahahaha. And even Scott agrees.

Before

During

After

SO much better. The first night after the room was painted was the most restful night's sleep I've gotten since we moved here!



A few weeks ago, I came across this group of people doing a "Quilt Along" with a certain pattern that I thought looked really fun. I joined the flicker group (see my sidebar if you're interested or curious), and I ordered a bunch of fabrics that I loved. It was a little bit tricky sewing curved pieces, but in the end it wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. Here is my progress thus far. All that's left is the actually quilting now:















Our Budding Artist

This past month Grace was chosen with a couple other girls in her class to be part of an Art Show Exhibition at the district High School. There were a few kids' artwork chosen from each grade at the school and it was really fun to go to the reception that was held and see all the art from the other schools in the area. Ethan of course was quite insistent that he should have been chosen as well, but he does have an overripe sense of justice.

Grace and her friends

Grace and her art teacher

And Grace's artwork

Ethan Has a Friend!

Or perhaps a stalker? Evidenced by this note that I found in his backpack the other day after school:

{Ethan, your a nice guy. I like you. Your my budy.}

Signed "Sincerely, Harrison" on the outside. Hahahahaha. I'm just really happy that he's making friends. He can be so cautious and reserved in new groups that I was worried with our move here that it might be a bit difficult for him to find some friends. I think my worries can fade away now that Harrison thinks he's a nice guy. Hahahaha. No for real, though. He has been making more friends and was even invited to go to the children's museum the other day with a different boy from his class. So this is good.



Another Birthday Girl

And now for the most important event of the month! My birthday. Although this year was a bit more low-key than last year's 30th Birthday Extravaganza, it was nonetheless a fun and exciting weekend-long event. My birthday was also on a Monday, so we went out to dinner on the Saturday before and the kids (and Scott) gave me my presents that day! Scott took them all to Costco and let them pick out whatever they thought I wanted. Ethan picked out a cheesecake for me, Grace picked out a Barefoot Contessa cookbook, and Sophie picked out some strawberries and oranges. You know, because that's what I really wanted. Hahahaha. The piece de resistance, though, was the present that Scott managed to track down in the nick of time before closing that night at a Costco on the other side of town -- my raincheck from last year. A Canon Rebel! The T2i was out of stock at the Costco near us, so he thought he'd have to wait until the next week for the next shipment to come in. Right before we were going to leave for dinner, he looked online to see if there were any other stores in the area and if the camera was in stock and there was! I am more than excited about this present and I can't wait to learn how to use it.

My sister Emily sent me the coolest print for my birthday and she has officially become the best gift-giver in the family! Hahahaha.

How cute is this?? When the girls saw it Grace said "That's perfect mom, because you love to read!" Hahaha. I guess they really do know me pretty well.

The most exciting part of my birthday happened on the day itself. I woke up Monday morning and said to myself -- "I want to find out what we're having!" So, even though I wasn't quite 16 weeks at the time and didn't know if it was possible to determine the gender at all yet, I got online to look up ultrasound places in the area. I ended up finding one that was pretty nearby and had an opening for that afternoon. My dad was in town for a brief visit on his way back from visiting my brother in New Orleans for his birthday and he offered to watch the little ones for me if there was anything I wanted to go out and do for my special day. Well, I seized the opportunity and was SO excited to find out that we are having a BOY!!! Although, I think perhaps Ethan was the most excited of all. Luckily, ALL the kids had been wanting a boy (even Sophie had come around in the last couple of weeks) and they were all excited to find out the news. Here is a cute shot the sonographer got of baby Alex touching his toes to his nose. So cute!

And Last but not Least

We have a nursery girl!!! Jane's first day of nursery was last Sunday and it was a hit! Yay!!! It's always a bit of a toss up with my kids as to whether they will do well in nursery or not. Jane seemed to do just fine, so that is awesome. For the next few months at least, I'll be able to enjoy Sunday School and Relief Society without wrestling a child. Unfortunately, Jane has become a little stinker when it comes to posing for pictures and I couldn't get a decent shot of her on her big day. Before church I tried to take a few pictures but she wouldn't look up at me at all, and then later on in the evening I still couldn't get a decent shot. Oh well. At least the moment was captured!






And that's all folks! This is kind of a random blog post, but there you have it. Wish us luck on Project Love at Home...