Cute Picture Round Up

Went through my phone tonight and found these gems. Enjoy the adorableness of our three. Biased? Me? Nah!

I almost forgot! Brent and I have new callings. He's a ward missionary and I'm the Bear den leader. Go Scouts! Sammi is still adjusting to first grade. She loves riding the bus but doesn't like the cafeteria food. So I guess I'll be packing lunches. Elli also did not like lunch when she went to preschool last week. Make that two lunches I'll be packing! Sammi had her first test on Friday and has another one tomorrow. It's mostly review stuff right now. I hope they move quickly before she gets bored with the novelty of the classroom, worksheets, and what not. Surprisingly she doesn't like art very much but I'm hoping once they get the class rules down and the teacher trusts them more they'll be able to do more of the things she likes. Elli doesn't get up early so I'm afraid how this week will go as she has to get up at 7 every morning for preschool. Though she is excited to go. Usually. Especially once I promised to make her lunch :) Scott did very well his first day without sisters. He played with a train for over two hours! Such dedication. He loves books and scissors. Fortunately the two interests have not collided yet! Knock on wood. Now I'm rambling. Good night.

January 2012

January was a busy month. We started it off with Scott's birthday and ended it with Brent's birthday. Both celebrated their golden birthdays (where they turned the age of their date: Scott turned 1 on the 1st and Brent turned 31 on the 31st). I meant for there to be great amounts of celebrating, but alas, life was busy and we didn't do much.

Scott turned one and ate a marshmallow! No cake for this gluten-free boy. It still seems to bother him. Scott has become so playful. He loves to follow his sisters around and play with them. He loves fruits and veggies, especially mixed together in a smoothie. He's now in 18 month clothes, though some long 12 month pants still fit.

Elli started the new year of with lots of crafts. She is not a fan of formal school time so we do lots of songs and imaginative play. She knows all her letters and their sounds but isn't ready to sound out words yet. She does like to play with Sammi's school supplies so we have fun all together doing school. Elli loves her ballet class and often sachets around the house to her own soundtrack.

Sammi is continuing to grow at a very quick rate. She's lost her bottom two teeth and by the end of January another was getting loose. Sammi is also learning at a quick rate. She is reading early readers but doesn't really like to read. She'd rather I read a more complex book to her. She's also spelling like a champ and a whiz with numbers. But her true love is art. She must do art projects everyday. She enjoyed Grandma Devine's visit where we learned to doodle and she got to watch tons of art videos with Grandma.

Brent went back to school on the last day of his month, a.k.a. his birthday. After having been out of school for 9 months he was glad to get back. We celebrated his birthday during family home evening the night before his birthday. At church Brent is still teaching the gospel principles class, now on his third time

I'm busy with the joys and fun of homeschooling, having three little ones and all the other responsibilities that pop up throughout the days and weeks. At church I am still the Primary President. We started the year by giving the children a journal to keep track of what they learn during sharing time this year and to help them memorize the scriptures that go with each month. The kids love them! We also participate in a homeschool co-op and I volunteered to teach two classes this semester: art to 3-5th graders and an animal science class to the K-2nd graders. My part of the animal science class is to do a craft each week related to the animals we discuss. I love all the focus on art! And Sammi loves to help me plan and prep the lessons, too.

Elli's Birthday Presents

This is the final post about Elli's birthday. I promise! (please look at the previous two for great pics) We had a super fun day. After dinner the girls got baths and then into their pajamas.
Then we had Elli open her presents and cards. It was well past their bedtime which explains why they look so out of it in some of the shots. Thank you for all the presents. It was fun opening them with her.
Also, please check out the giveaway on Because Babies Grow Up. It's a CD from an awesome rock band for kids called Milkshake. I'd also love it if you'd help spread the word about the giveaway! You're the best family and friends a girl could hope for!

Elli's Birthday Party

We had friends come over in the afternoon to share cake and ice cream. It was a fun party, even though I forgot about the ice cream.


In all about 20 friends came over (parents and kids) and had fun tearing the play room apart. The popcorn was a great snack; I think even a bigger hit than the cake.


Elli scrambled around eating every unattended bowl of popcorn she could find. She absolutely loves the stuff. She was quite excited about the cake, too. It was double layer and I marbled Devil's Food and White together. Yum. I made cupcakes with the extra, but haven't had a chance to make frosting for them yet.

Elli got a stuffed tiger from a friend. It felt perfect since Sammi got her tiger pillow on her first birthday.
Another milestone down. Elli's had quite a busy year what with living in Orem, traveling to Colorado then driving across the country to now live in Tennessee.

Elli's Birthday Breakfast

Happy Birthday, Elli! It's been a fun day. To start, we really kicked off turning 1 by introducing Elli to the joy of cold cereal. She had Honey Nut Cheerios (because they're my favorite) in a bowl with whole milk. I was so impressed with how well she ate it with a spoon. Though she did often hold the spoon in one hand and use the other hand to pick up the cheerios and put them in her mouth. She did an excellent job of eating almost the whole bowl.

Sammi also enjoyed her cereal, but insisted on Frosted MiniWheats.

Just the 4 of Us

More Birthday Fun

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Chatterley for saving the day! their package for Sammi's birthday arrived today while Brent and I were trying to decide what to have Sammi wear to bed (we always seem to be short on pjs.) Sammi was excited to open another present, but not nearly as excited as she was about the actual present! She happily put on her pjs (including the shorts for a hat) and took the book promptly to Daddy to have it read to her. What a doll!

Happy Birthday Sammi!

Sammi is 2 years old today. We had a wonderful day. She was simple adorable all day long. Even when she was a bit cranky after her nap, it was cute (mostly because I sent her to Grandma's house to play while I cleaned!--thank you Grandma!)

We had pictures taken today. She was such a poser. There were several poses I thought were picture perfect, but the photographer was going for a different look so she didn't capture them. In the end, though, it was still hard to decide which ones to buy because they were all so cute.

We opened presents and then had dinner. Brent and I gave her a wading pool that we wanted her to play in before bedtime so she played in the water while we got dinner ready. She also got lots of crafting supplies from Grandma Devine (and Grandpa). Grandma and Grandpa Chatterley gave her adorable summer clothes. Sammi kept saying, "Oooh, cute clothes. Mommy look how cute!" From Grandma and Grandpa Passey she got play diapers and bottles and, most importantly, a wide loader with signs and all! She has loved all her toys.

And isn't this the perfect ending to a perfect day! What a wonderful family I have. I can't wait for Elizabeth to be a part of all the fun, too!

Reframing Motherhood

Well, the events of this week have turned my reality on its nose. Aside from my birthday (which I will discuss in a moment) I re-entered the workforce this week. It all happened quite suddenly and without warning. I had applied to teach ESL classes at UVSC back in November or maybe it was October. I didn't hear anything (I figured it was too late for the January start date anyway) and I hadn't thought much more about it. Then, on Wednesday of this week, May 2, I received a voice message and an email from the director of ESL classes at UVSC. He explained that they had a tremendous surge in enrollment and needed to split classes in two levels and would I be interested in teaching two classes, PLEASE!

Brent and I consulted, I figured out child care options, and I said O.K. So Thursday, my birthday, Sam and I went to the department and got a full tour and my books. Then we went to the daycare center and had a tour. Then yesterday, Friday, I started teaching! It's fun to be back in the classroom, but it was sad to leave Sam at the daycare. It wasn't so bad in the morning when a friend watched her, but the day care really hit home that I was a working mom. I envisioned myself working once my children were all in school during the day, but working again so soon after Sam's arrival is a bit of an adjustment for us all. She seemed really happy at the day care center, so that eased some of my concerns. Brent said he was worried sick about her all day. Dad's have a harder time trusting other people with their children--it's such an unknown. For me, I've seen the facility and I can imagine her in the baby room being rocked by a gentle woman. But Brent doesn't have a physical setting in which to place her so in his mind she's just hanging out in a black hole-very scary indeed! All-in-all I think teaching this summer will be an exciting adventure!

So, back to my birthday. First thing Thursday morning I realized what would be different about birthdays as a mom. Sam still had breakfast before I did. Her need was more immediate and so I put my breakfast off until she was content and playing with her toys. I reminded her all day that she was supposed to be especially pleasant for me since it was my birthday! That wasn't too hard for her because she's rather pleasant all of the time. I had many nice phone calls, cards and emails. Thank you for helping me feel so special on my big day. In fact, it was almost unnerving how much attention I had. I am so used to Sam getting all of the attention now, that I felt the urge to deflect the attention back onto her. But, for one day out of the year it's not bad to bask in the lime light!

Here are some fun pictures from the park a week ago: