Look who is 4 year old!

Paris turned 4!

She picked out her flower cake at the store.

Dad took the day off and she went to lunch with him and Mike and cousin Anika. They had a fun time. Aunt Bean and John from Alaska mailed her a card and money. She went to the store and bought a stroller. She has been talking about this stroller for months. I have been saying she has to save her money to buy it. So every time she found a penny she would say "now I have enough money to buy that stroller." Glad she was finally able to buy it.

When we asked Paris what she wanted to do for her birthday. Gavin and Brody tried to convince her to go to Peter Piper Pizza. Instead she wanted to stay home and have grandma and grandpa come over and cook hot dogs over the fire. Grandma bought Paris this dog months ago and Paris talked about it all the time. When we told her it was her birthday she said "Yea now I get the dog in the bag grandma got for me.

More from the last few weeks. We were lucky enough to babysit Lydia. Paris wanted her hold her all the time. It was fun getting to watch her.

 Found 3 in a bed one night. They are cute when they all get along and are not fighting.

Fun Times

Grammy and Grandad came to visit and brought Aunt Bean who was visiting from Alaska along with them. The kids loved Aunt Bean. They are so lucky that they got to see her.

Chick-sitting!

Peggy let us chick sit her baby chickens. The kids absolutely adore them and wanted to hold them all the time!! I totally makes me want to get a house with land and some animals for the kids to grow up with.  

March 2014

Dad went on a trip last night. I told the kids they could have a sleepover with me. They had fun, but that also means I didn't get much sleep. My kids like to sleep right next to me!

 The kids had their first day of swim lessons today! Brody and Gavin were so excited!! Paris was not excited. I tried to convince her it would be fun.

 Gavin did great in his class. He is just learning/practicing all the strokes. I would like to get him on the swim team in a year or two. Brody loved his class, but I guessed the wrong class for him. It ended up being way to easy for him. All the harder classes that were close to the same time as the other two kids were full so we are on the waiting list for a harder class. They are hoping a couple weeks, but he is going to do the easier class for now until we figure out what to do. Paris I thought did well. I know she hates her face wet so I was nervous about that. She never did cry, but she would cling onto her instructor trying to keep from going under water. I kept seeing Paris tell the instructor "no" she didn't want to do it. Paris said she didn't like getting water in her nose.  

School Pictures 3rd Quarter 2014

I got the boys all dressed up cute for school pictures only to think that I will probably not spend $50 on 1 picture of each child. So I just took a couple quick pictures before we left for school. Both boys need a haircut bad! But when I finally get grandma to cut their hair. The boys convince her to leave it longer. She tries to make us both happy cutting it shorter than they want, but still way longer than I want it. 

 

Gavin 2nd Grade Mrs Coffinger (Love Her!!)

Gavin and school is a lot of work for both him and his mother. I go and help in his class once a week. If she asks me to come an extra day during the week Paris can come with me and she absolutely loves going. I think it is really good for him. He does lots of homework to keep up with his grade level. It usually takes us 2 hours a night. It feels like I am homeschooling him after school. He does his online math and reading program for 30 min, 30 min of reading book and answering/writing the answers from the questions in the back, popcorn math learning facts, lots of spelling practice every night, his math page, and any other random thing his teacher sends home that she thinks will help him. His teacher really likes him and I know she just wants what is best for him so we try to do everything that she asks. And surprisingly for how much homework he has to do this year he doesn't complain as much as he used to. I think he is just used to having to do it. He is actually really good in class and tries to be extra good when I am in the class helping.

 

 Brody Kindergarten Mr Mendoza (Best Teacher Ever for Brody!)

Brody has learned so much this year! His teacher says he is almost to 1st grade reading level. He has great handwriting, can count by 1's 2's and 10's working on 3's, does big subtraction problems, comes home with random facts he learned from school. He is a very smart boy, but his teacher pushes him to do the work of a 1st grader. He also does an online program that I feel is way harder than he should be on, but he can do it.

 

 I tried to take a picture of Paris, but she cried and cried and when I finally got her to stop crying for the picture she was still grumpy. Everything has to be on her terms. She loves her picture taken until I want to take a picture of her. I believe she started to be mad because he only wanted a ponytail today and not braided like she wanted it yesterday. But then after we dropped off the boys at school and she forgot about the ponytail she just wanted to be mad and sat on my lap half the morning.

That Child's Poor Mother

I am pretty sure every mother that witnesses Gavin being himself thinks "His Poor Mother" No matter if they are watching him climb all over the park equipment or climbing the trees at the park or walking past our backyard and see a child swinging way higher than he probably should. I have no idea how he has never gotten hurt badly. On many occasions I find him doing something he shouldn't or he so proud that he learned a new trick like jumping from the swing onto the trampoline. Only to find that I am not as impressed as he thought I would be. I keep thinking the older he gets he will start to calm down, but that still hasn't happened yet.  He just finds new and creative ways to be crazy. I find myself saying the following sayings way more often than I like to admit. "You need to calm down!", "You need to stop being crazy!", "You are driving your mother crazy!", "I am getting annoyed!", "You need to stop wrestling with your brother!", "You need to use your inside voice", "Stop doing that!, "Go outside and get out your energy". Depending on how long I am with him, I find that I can say all of them in a very short period of time. I wish on many, many, many occasions we had a bigger backyard with neighbors further away to not hear my children. But I don't think moving is ever going to happen at least not for a very long time.

Hot Tub Time and Chris Birthday - Feb 2014

Hot tub is up and running. The kids go almost every day.

 I still watch Benji after school most days. Those 2 are best buddies. They enjoy a good swim together.

 

Chris' Birthday! He picked San Tan Flats Steak place. He likes the food, but it drives him crazy having the boys around fire. I can understand why with Gavin burning my hair with his marshmallow. I thought it was fun even with burnt hair.

Princess Paris

Paris is very much a princess. She loves to decorate her room. I look in while she was sleeping to find he decorated her bed with her my little ponies. She also decorates with bracelets. She also likes to put her blanket over the top of her bed so it looks "fancy".

 She wears her crowns around town and always has a purse she carries all her stuff in. It is usually filled with toys or jewelry. This pretty polka dot shirt is her favorite right now.

Brody Lost Tooth #2 and Birthday Boy January 2014

Brody Lost his 2nd tooth. He waits until it is ready to fall out of his mouth before he lets dad get it out.

Brody had a Birthday!! He turned 6! Brody picked the place. He wanted to go to Peter Piper Pizza and play the arcade games. Grandma and Grandpa went with us. Getting the cake was an event! We were going to get cupcakes at Sams Club after the pizza place. Then he wanted to get them before and I didn't want to do all that driving for cup cakes. So we went to Walmart to pick some out and they didn't have what he wanted. He found Catching fire cupcakes and liked the way the looked, but I didn't think that said 6 years old. So the store took off the decorations and put on Mario Brothers and he was happy.

Christmas 2013

Christmas was very nice. We tried to keep it Christ centered teaching the kids about Jesus birth and tried to stay away from Santa.

Chris and I bought way to many toys for the kids. Lots of outside toys. They boys favorites are the 360 degree big wheels. They spin in circles, they are still a favorite 3 months later.

 Paris favorite toy from Christmas is her stroller with baby and her Polly Pockets. She still plays lots with her Polly Pockets.

Worst toy ever!! Why did I buy silly string, it was not fun to clean up. Oh I know why we bought it because Brody had been begging for it for months. I told him never again would we buy silly string.

 

Paris last days of Preschool

Paris did preschool with Mrs K. We did it for 6 month until December then we decided that we would wait until next school year to do more preschool. The scheduling wasn't working and I was having a hard time with the 3 different schedules. Paris misses preschool and her friends. But she still has playdates and hangs out lots with mom.

Paris and I have gone into school to help at Gavin class a few months after preschool. Paris said she is a big girl now because she is big enough to go to Gavin class. Gavin teacher just loves Paris. She sends me to make copies for her and Paris wants to stay with Mrs Coffinger and help her. 

Nov Dad Activity

Family time doing something dad enjoys.

Gavin age 8

Brody age 5

Brody's First Tooth

After months of Brody's tooth being loose and him saying it hurt to brush his teeth. We finally made him take it out. He cried and threw a fit because he did not want it out. Gavin cried on the couch because he felt bad for Brody. But it took only a second and he said it only hurt a little. I think he was just more scared because Gavin made it scary for him. He got his dollar and tooth and is now a happy camper. One down lots more to go.

Gavin Baptism

Gavin was baptized Sep 21, 2013. He was so excited for this. I think he loved all the attention that he was getting. Some of his thoughts when asked about being baptized. "It feels good and am so lucky that I got to be baptized. Others should get baptized to feel the holly spirit and be happy." Then next day he says "I am just so happy I got baptized." We love that Gavin made the choice to be baptized and he got to be baptized with his friend Wesley. Gavin had lots of family come and share this special day with him. Both grandparents came. Grandma Barrett give the baptism talk, Dad did the baptism and confirmation. Grandad and Grandpa were the witnesses. Cousin Samantha was the music leader and Grammy Parker gave the prayer. Gavin had fun deciding who to ask to help and calling everyone and asking them. It was a perfect day!! I was so happy watching him growing up.

Gavin Birthday and Summer Fun

Gavin Turned 8

What a fun challenging Son we have. We learn lots from Gavin and at times it is getting easier the older he gets. He is a sweet boy who loves to play with friends and siblings. He still has lots and lots of energy.

 Gavin is not a cake fan so he wanted brownies instead.

 He asked for a glow pet and flashlight and a bunch of other things that we didn't get for him. Those were his top choices. Grandma gave him money and he got a blanket from Grammy.

 Gavin gets to be in church wolf group now. He likes scouts a lot.

 For the Raingutter Regatta, mom is in charge of scouts and we did a pirate theme boat race. So pictures of my cute pirates.

 Gavin did well on his races.

 Brody got free tickets from the Library to go to Wet and Wild. We thought about not going because it was a long drive and Paris was staying with her cousins all day. But we went and the boys loved that place! We stayed all day.

 This was the scary ride.  Gavin said "It wasn't scary, but so so scary!" Brody said "It made me sick a little" He looked sick when he came off the seat during the ride. Dad didn't even want to go, but the boys had no fear, at first :)