Kid Update

Besides jumping on the new trampoline the kids have been busy getting back into the swing of things at school, the girls are looking forward to starting a dance class with a girl in our ward who is generously sharing her love of dance with a group of young girls in our ward for a very reasonable price.  And, she will transport my girls there and back in exchange for me watching her little girl during the class (a little younger than Emma).  The girls will also begin MAD friday this coming week for the spring and they are excited for that.

On the trampoline

Now that all 4 kids have Otter stuffed animals (Jonas got one for Christmas and Emma got Lillian's hand-me-down) they are very thrilled about them.  They also still bathe all together sometimes for simplicity (or at least controlled chaos) and just because they think it's fun.  I'm sure soon they will outgrow these things, but they are fun while they last

4 otter pups with 4 otters

Rub a dub dub four kids in a tub

Jocelyn had "Dr. Seuss" day at school and had to dress up as a Dr. Seuss character.  Because we barely remembered the morning of, we came up with this in about 10 minutes.  Not too shabby considering the time crunch!  Jocelyn also attended a "Great to be 8" fireside at church for all the children who will be turning 8 this year. The purpose of the meeting was to prepare them for baptism and what to expect in the coming year as far as church goes.  My neighbor watched the younger 3 kids so Jared and I could go with her and make it a special outing together.  I also had to give a talk about baptism/the Holy Ghost so the kids helped me prepare handouts, etc. and visuals for that.  I can't believe my baby will be 8 this year!!  She's continues to be a helpful and responsible young lady.

Jocelyn for Dr. Seuss day

  Jocelyn looked so cute one morning on the way to school.  She was wearing the ear band I brought her as a souvenir from Boston and her new backpack and shoes she got for Christmas, but she was being a stinker and wouldn't pose for a picture.

Jocelyn before school

When we came back from Boston, Lillian began the following day by telling me that she "had used up all her good behavior for Nana and she would not be able to be obedient that day.  And, she stuck to her word!! She was terrible especially all morning and just worn out by afternoon!!  The little stinker!  She is doing ok in kindergarten and her reading is REALLY improving.  She seems to really enjoy reading and still valiantly mothers Emma in every way she can. This week at school they've been studying penguins and reading the "Tacky the Penguin" books so we checked some out at the library for her along with her BOB books and Elephant and Piggie books.  She was thrilled this morning when she got to wear this outfit to school for "tacky" day.  I basically let her pick out whatever she wanted to wear and then didn't have to correct or encourage appropriate changes to her ensemble like I usually need to do when she goes out in public.  We french braided one half of her hair and did a pig tail on the other half (at her request) with all sorts of accessories and colors.  Too fun!

Lillian dressed for "tacky" day

Jonas is loving being back in preschool and the other day his teacher texted me with her favorite Jonas quote of the day. 
Teacher (as Jonas has climbed onto her table): "Jonas, does your mommy let you climb on the table at home? Because we don't do that here."
Jonas (with a sly grin): "She does when she's not home!"
This guy may or may not be related to his Dad and is pretty clever at talking himself out of a predicament.  Jonas is also getting better at getting himself dressed and shows off his new ability by sneaking into his room and changing into Pajamas right before we need to pick up the girls from school and I am occupied changing Emma's diaper and other such lovely timing.  I am trying to tell him I am so excited for his new found ability and he needs to be using it at the right time, like when I ask him in the morning to "get ready for the day" (when he often chooses any other activity BESIDES getting ready) rather than when we need to be walking out the door.  We'll hopefully get there.  Jonas also started attending "sunbeams" at church and couldn't be more thrilled with himself.  He is so proud how he goes to primary with the big kids (and apparently goes and sits himself down by the bedell boys-age 8 -instead of his own class) and is even improving in recognizing letters (still struggles with numbers) and coloring in the lines instead of huge scribbles.

Proud of himself after getting dressed in his ninja turtles shirt

Emma, on the other hand, is a monster!!  Probably just because she is less supervised as a 4th child, or maybe just her personality, but she gets into everything in the blink of an eye.  She is a well practiced dumpster diver so we always have to check on what she is eating. She still eats everything in sight and still sleeps really well so I can hardly complain, but I just worry about her safety at times!  One day Jared handed her some garbage and said "Emma, can you throw this away, please?" Emma cautiously looked at him while walking to the garbage and, with Jared's encouragement, lifted the lid and threw the item away.  She was proud of herself and also a little shocked we were telling her to put something in there instead of getting her in trouble for taking things out of there.  He probably just opened a whole new can of worms and we'll be losing valuable belongings to the trash can with her help, but that's all part of having a toddler, I suppose.

My dumpster diver

A couple months ago Jared got this play structure on freecycle and has since power washed it, painted it and added the roof and traded swings out (from our previous set up).  We moved our old one to our neighbor's yard since they wanted it. I wish the kids would play on it more.  They mostly take advantage of it when friends are over, but it has a big capacity for kids crawling all over it and Jared fixed it up so it looks really great.

The "new" swingset