Dylan's school birthday on Don's birthday

I took Tyler to Karlie's house for his second day of preschool. It was Letter B day. He was a little apprehensive but was also excited. 

He took an apple. We were tardy because I thought I had to be completely ready for the day. So there is no photo of it. 

Julia and I went to Publix to get a cookie cake and a couple of things.

Then we rushed to Chick-fil-A. I called ahead to order lunch since I was in a hurry. But they were still serving breakfast. Oops! I called the school to see when lunch was and I was like an hour off. So... Julia and I hung out until lunch food time

and got to school in time to unload and sign in. 

We took food to Isaac too. 

His lunch overlaps with his cousin Raphael's lunch. 

Dylan's turn! 

His friends Erden and Michael. 

I took lunch to the teachers too. Here is Ms. Demming. 

Both 3rd grade classes got some cookie cake but the girls liked the baby best. 

Because I was off on lunch time, Don picked Tyler up from preschool like he had the first week. They came to the school! It was Don's real birthday so we gave him one of his presents. I had gotten him a smoothie since he had a dental appointment in the morning. 

We re-visited the boys. Surprise! 

We went to his house then to Burlington Coat Factory to get him a new jacket for his birthday. 

My babies

I'm reading the How to Win Friends and Influence People book and the first chapter has a poem as the Reader's Digest reprinted it. It is a father's admission, appology, and comment to do better. To appreciate his son, to stop pointing out every fault by judging him with the yardstick of a man, and to show more love. Every parent can use a good reminder like this. 

Today I spanked Tyler. I warned him that I would. Time Out had not given him the change of heart that I had desired. Poor baby cried himself to sleep. We were both tired. 

A photo Don took on a walk. 

I am starting a value experience for Young Women with my girls and the one for today is in Divine Nature. I am to pick a family member and strengthen our relationship after reading scriptures on the topic of charity and the Proclamation to the World on The Family. I choose Tyler. He us slow too obey yhe first time and I am slow to be patient the first time. 

Julia is a cuddly baby today because she has a cough and can not sleep because if it. Coughing and turning. I can not nap either. 

Tyler is my baby because he loves being called my baby boy. He is independent yet likes us to help with random things that he could do himself. He plays by himself. But he needs way more of my attention. He asked if I would play catch with him today when we were watching Dylan at the soccer clinic. I always want him to ask me things that he wants. Of course we played! Then later in our backyard he told me what his job is.

"I have to mow the lawn and fight bad guys and fix houses and get strong and practice how to do basketball and volleyball with a beach ball and collect rocks if dont want them in the grass. And cleaning up outside and pick flowers. Thats my job. And have a tall ladder to reach anything I want to if I want to do my best."

He just noticed Julia playing with his volleyball (beach ball) and said "hey!" Then he ran over to get his soccer ball and traded her. It worked beautifully. I like that he learns how to troubleshoot problems himself. He went in and got scissors so that he can actually mow the lawn.

In the car he said:

Do you remember when I was at the temple with Jesus? It was only little kids. Maybe Julia was there. I think you were still at home. That's when you said you wanted me to be your baby boy.-tyler 2/10/15

Isaac is my baby boy because he is quiet and cautious. AAAAnd he sat in the baby swing :)

Today he felt sick still after puking the day before. He cried when it was Time to get Dylan from school. He was getting his shoes on and getting ready to go, but he was teary-eyed was getting ready to get in the car. Sure enough, he puked again in the car. In The bowl we had for him. Then today, he did not want to walk to the car from the soccer field. (He was supposed to play but slept instead.) 

I asked if he wanted to wait there and then after I took the stroller loaded full of junk the car if he wanted me to come back and carry him to the car. He said yes and sat down right there in the grass. He is still as my sweet baby boy. 

Dylan got scared at dinner the other night. He was eating some red lobster cheddar Bay biscuits that I had made probably put too much garlic butter and seasonings on their scratchy tops. It irritated of his mouth, and he was worried. He went in the bathroom to rinse and to put some Periosciences gel on it. I think he must've looked in the mirror or felt with his finger because he came back and was scared. He was worried that there is now roughness. He had not noticed before that that is normal. He sort of started to cry. I took him into the bathroom so it was just the two of us. I had him look at the roof of my mouth after I looked in his with a dental mirror and told him that It is normal. There was not even a new redness. I told him he did not need to finish that roll because of the spices. He has always thought that spices even salt-and-pepper were too spicy. My baby boy. 

Sometimes I measure my kids by a ruler made for an adult. I do have high expectations of them for some things, but really they are just my little boys and baby girl. My babies.

My kids' Valentines cards

I'm re-posting from my FFP blog here. 

My cool friend Jason told me about the best school Valentine's cards he was designing for his boys. He only has 2 kids so told me he was going to do one card with both boys. I'm always up for a creative photo card ideas so was all ears. He explained it was going to be the King of Hearts face card. He designed the details on the back, the blue line, the font with the hearts, everything. I asked if I could buy his template off of him because I hadn't even thought about what to do for Valentine's. He gave it to me for free! I found a little perfect crown at H+M in the mall and got even more excited! In Julia's magic closet of clothes from friends, I found an overalls dress with a heart on the front and paired it with a pink onesie and snapped away! I'm sure I would have looked for a frilly Valentine's patterned dress for my girly girl if I had to think of my own idea for Valentines cards, but this seemed just perfect. I hadn't thought about how to blend the hands, but with short arms, I gave my little queen of hearts 4 arms on the card. Tyler was a little wiggly so I had him hold onto the wood Pepsi crate that I had sat Julia on. But then what should I do with that hand that was clearly gripping the edge of the box? I figured it out as you can see. As I kept staring at real face cards, I wanted their heads turned to the side. And laughing was what I pictured in my head. It's sorta hard to get the kids to laugh at nothing off to the side. I threw some things to my left, but because of gravity, their eyes would end up looking to the ground - where the light no longer shone in their eyes. So I got one side photo, but then one laughing at me for each of the little two.

 And I thought it would be pretty cool to actually have the kids hang upside down. I didn't think of that until the bigger kids were home from school. I asked them to hang on our swingset. Getting them to look to the side and laugh at a blank space was still a challenge. The real laugh was one where Isaac was scratching the side of his nose. I liked how his shirt looked all diagonally decorated like the kings on the cards, but my husband said he'd get made fun of for years to come. So I used an upside down photo after all. Since his class mates will probably not see this post, here's my little joker (ok, Jack) of hearts along with the other one.

And here's Dylan. It looks way too photoshopped, but his arms are too long. Then too short - can you tell I had to stretch his elbow to reach the edge of the blue frame? 

And here're Jason's cute kids. He did it with each of his kids then, since he only has 2 kids, he could merge them onto the same card. Lucky! And he planned ahead for the arms. Awesome. 

I'd love it if you would go here and pin that post. Or follow me and re-pin the one I pinned. Thanks! 

Dear Julia, You're 9 months old!

Dear Julia,

You are nine month old! You just learned how to clap! 

You have stood on your own a couple of times. 

You are so cute. 

You smile when anybody gives you attention. 

You cut two more teeth on our vacation, letters D and G, your laterals. I am so glad you have them since Isaac does not. So now you have four teeth on top to go with you to Cute teeth on bottom. 

You love stairs and get tickled just thinking about out climbing us so we can not grab you. 

Your first word is Up. You said it in Colombia.