Why I have Girls

I was outside a minute ago looking at the flowers in my yard and Adriana and Pieper walked out with me. After a few minutes Adriana said, "I know why you had me." I asked her why and she said, "Because you needed someone to talk to when your boys were gone to the football games and that's what me and Pieper do."

Great Brother

Harrison is such a sweet boy. Adriana has been wanting to eat "breakfast" (really lunch) in the lunchroom at school but she is afraid to go by herself so for about three days now Harrison has been taking Adriana into the lunchroom to eat her "breakfast" and then he walks her to her classroom after she is done. On Friday the school had a breakfast pizza that they were serving so Harrison decided to get it because it had sausages on it, which are Adriana's favorite, and he knew that so he let her pick them off and eat them. It was such a small act of kindness but so sweet at the same time.

Math Homework

Parker is great at math and his teacher even told me that she would like to move him up a level to 4th grade math because he has really caught on (but it probably won't happen because there isn't room in the 4th grade class). But what his teacher doesn't know is that he takes forever to do his homework at home. It's like pulling teeth to get him to do it. He will literally throw himself on the ground and start complaining each time I tell him he needs to do his math homework. The math homework that he has started to do this year requires that he explain how he got the answer that he did, which is where Parker gets hung up. He does not like writing and would rather just skip over it but unfortunately for him (and me) he can't. Once he sits down to do the homework he is pretty okay it's just a matter of getting him to do it. The other day I threatened to tell his teacher how he acts when I ask him to do his homework and he took me seriously because he has done a little bit better since then.

The Library

A couple days ago I took Pieper to the library for the first time this year. She had such a great time! I think she would have taken home very book in the library if I would have let her but being the mean mom that I am I only let her check out five books. She especially liked getting a stamp on each hand after we checked the books out.

While we were at the library we also had to make a bathroom stop because Pieper had to go "really bad and she couldn't wait anymore." She thought the bathroom was pretty neat as well because she was tall enough to reach the sink and the soap by herself.

Pieper also enjoyed the fact that the library has an elevator. She loves to push the buttons herself, which she usually doesn't get to do if Parker is around because he is afraid she is going to push the alarm (which she has done on more than one occasion).

When we got home from the library Pieper carried the books into the house by herself and immediately sat down and began to look at them. She spent about two hours looking at books and making up stories. Later that night she had to sleep with the books as well so they wouldn't get lost and she could find them first thing the following morning.

The next day when she got up she found her back pack and put all her books in their for easier carrying. She took her back pack every where with her. Later in the day we made another trip to the library and exchanged her books for new ones. This time we took Adriana with us and she got some of her own books (she was rather jealous of Pieper the day before).

When I was younger I loved to go to the library! My dream was to be a librarian and be able to read every book that came in the door so I would know what to recommend to the patrons. It hasn't happened yet but maybe when my kids are all grown up and moved away I will fulfill my dream.

Brotherly Love

While I was on my home from picking up the kids from school Harrison told me about what had happened at lunch recess. Harrison and Parker have recess and lunch together because they are both in the multi-age program, which is a lot of fun for them because they get to be with each other a lot throughout the day. Harrison began by telling me that Parker had cried at lunch recess because their "friend" had said a mean comment about Parker. The comment was "Don't pass the ball to Parker he'll just fumble it. He sucks at playing football." So Harrison went up to their "friend" and pushed him and then said, "Don't ever say anything mean about my brother again. He is a better football than you will ever be," and then he walked off. I guess the football game continued on much as it had before after that. Then Harrison said, "You know what the best thing about it was?"

At this point I was thinking, "Something good came from this? Did any teachers see Harrison pushing his 'friend'? Is Harrison going to get kicked out of school?"

"On the next play Parker intercepted the ball and made a touchdown."

And then I came back to reality and realized that my two boys are best friends, despite the fact that they fight A LOT and they scream at each other more than I would like, they are truly best friends and would do anything for one another. I am so happy that Harrison and Parker can be friends and experience things together. I hope they will continue to be friends in the future and be able to share some really fun, exciting experiences.

Another Ear Infection

For the past couple of days Madison has been a bear, which is not like her at all because she is usually such a happy baby. Around 3:00-4:00 PM on Monday and yesterday she started to get really fussy and wouldn't stop crying unless she was being held (by me). I love to hold her but it gets a little tricky when I am trying to cook dinner or get some work done. I debated whether I should take her to the doctor or not because she had an ear infection a couple weeks ago and the antibiotic just ended last Thursday and when I took her to the doctor last Friday for her 6 month immunizations he said her ears looked great. But I decided that I would rather be safe than sorry and I took her in to the clinic. As soon as we got into the room she perked up and was so happy. She kept smiling and laughing for no reason, which always seems to happen when I take one of my kids to the doctor. The miraculously get feeling a lot better. But when the doctor checked her right ear he said it was infected again. So we have to start up another round of antibiotics and hope that it will clear it up. If it doesn't I think I am going to check into getting tubes in her ears because we haven't even hit the cold season yet and we are already having problems.

Why?

Pieper is into asking questions lately and at times it drives me crazy because everything is always followed with the question "why". Not every why question can be answered. There comes a point where you just run out of answers and that is not good enough for Pieper. It's not like she is trying to be difficult she is just curious (and probably wants to prolong whatever it is that I am asking her to do). The other day we had such a conversation and it went like this:

Me: "Eat all your food Pieper."
Pieper: "Why?"
Me: "Because it's yummy."
Pieper: "Why?"
Me: "Because I made it."
Pieper: "Why?"
Me: "Because you said you were hungry."
Pieper: "Why?"
Me: "Because you haven't eaten since breakfast."
Pieper: "Why?"
Me: "Because I didn't get you anything and it's lunch time and we don't eat all day long."
Pieper: "Why?"

So at this point am I supposed to answer why I didn't get her anything or why it is lunchtime or why we don't eat all day long? Can you see my frustration. It just gets a little confusing for me and I can't think up enough reasons for everything. Sometimes I'll just tell her "because I said" which is promptly followed by a "why" from Pieper. Hopefully we can soon grow out of this stage and start having meaningful conversations that don't involve "why."

Stubborn Girl

Adriana started attending a new dance class last week, which she was so excited about. She goes to dance every Tuesday for an hour. This week she was very uncooperative and wouldn't really do what her teacher said. I was a little surprised when I talked to her teacher because Adriana loves to dance. So when I asked Adriana about it she said, "You told me that they were going to let us make up our own dances but the teacher was making us do her stuff so I didn't want to do it. I just decided to make up my own stuff." I tried to explain to her that the teacher needed to show her new dance moves so she could include them in her dance the she made up but that wasn't what she wanted to hear. I told her that she needed to learn how to dance when she is little so she can be a good dancer when she is older. So then she asked me, "Will it help me dance good at my wedding?" I told her it would so hopefully that will be enough to convince her to listen to her teacher. I guess we'll see.

Breakfast at school

Adriana told came to me this morning and said, "I think I'm going to eat breakfast at school in the lunchroom because if you don't have enough time to eat it at home they have it at school but I want to take my own breakfast." So she packed up her "breakfast" which consisted of a salami sandwich, BBQ chips, a fruit roll up, and a cookie (seems more like lunch to me but whatever). She was dressed and ready to go by 8:00 AM and we don't usually leave until 8:30 AM so she sat and waited with her "breakfast" in her lap. She was so excited to get out of the car when we pulled up to the school, which is very unusual for her. The past few days she has been very tentative about going to school. She loves it while she is there but getting there in the morning is a little rough and I have to bribe her with all sorts of crazy things just so she will stay. She didn't seem to care a whole lot when I told her that it was the law for her to go to school and if I didn't make her go I would get put in jail. Her response was, "Then I'll just go and live with Kaye (my neighbor)." I asked Harrison to walk her to the lunchroom and stay with her while she ate and then walk her back to her classroom. I hope she enjoyed her "breakfast" and made it back to her classroom on time.

The other day I told Pieper that we were going to go to her nursery teacher's house and she said, "What? She has a house? Does she live at the church?" At first I didn't understand what she was talking about but then I realized that the only time she sees Kirsten, her teacher, is at church.

I love how innocent kids are!

Paver Pool Project

This is a pool deck that we were working on a few weeks ago, which was in the Provo Riverbottoms. It turned out to be a great project and looked beautiful when it was all finished.

Parker had a great time playing in the unfinished pool area.

I have not had a chance to take any pictures of the completed project but will do that in the next day or two.

Graham Crackers

Madison does not like baby food. I'm not even sure that she doesn't like it as much as she doesn't understand how to swallow it. She just spits it back out. My mom gave me the idea to try graham crackers. She actually liked them and didn't get that little shiver that kids get when they don't like how something tastes. Obviously she got more of it on her belly and clothes but she sure had a good time attempting to eat it.

Notice all the slobber that is running down her belly. Add that to the graham crackers and we had a good old fashioned mess going on. Jeff volunteered to load the dishwasher that night and I quickly realized that it was his way of getting out of cleaning up her mess.

Slobber, Slobber, and more Slobber

I have never had a baby slobber as much as Madison. When I get her dressed in the morning it only takes about five minutes before her shirt is drenched in the front. I seriously doubt that she is teething since all my other kids took forever to get their teeth (about one year). She pretty much has a constant flow of water streaming from her mouth.

Another breathing treatment

A couple weeks ago I took Madison in to the doctor again because she was not getting better and she was rather ornery so I knew that something was wrong. The doctor said that she had another ear infection (I am not sure if the previous ear infection never went away or it did and she just got another one). She was also weezing once again so we had to do another round of steriods and breathing treatments once again. I tried to distract her with some toys while I did the breathing treatment but it didn't work. She was still angry and upset the whole time.

Behind Again

Once again I am behind on my journaling. I am going to try and catch up a little bit so some of it might be out of order.