OtterPops: Kid Update

Jocelyn with her family tree

Dressing up like "nerds" one weekend just for fun

Jocelyn recently had to do a school project surrounding ancestors and making a "family tree." She presented a doll she had made to represent an ancestor and did a great job. It was one of those experiences where it took several hours to assist her doing the project "herself" but could have taken me 20 minutes. A definite practice in patience and teaching skills! She even practiced her presentation on Nana and Greg and Maren to make sure she was ready for the class presentation. Along with her friends, Jocelyn also signed up for Math Club after school for an 8 week session and seems to enjoy that. They are doing a Crazy 8 curriculum (3rd and 4th graders) that basically helps lead fun, hands-on math related projects. When I went to help volunteer one week Lillian was able to join us and had a great time as well.

Jocelyn also gets very motivated to earn money and complete tasks if there is a desirable prize at the end. The prize, of course, has to be determined by herself and usually it is one that I would never even think of myself. She recently decided she wanted a white very comfortable bath robe and a tiara. She luckily had some birthday money and some money chores that helped her earn enough for the bathrobe (which she and Jared found on a black friday sale at kohls) and she has worn it almost every night since earning it. Same with the tiara. She saw this tiara owned by her cousin and determined she wanted one as well. I told her she would not be getting one from us as her birthday was 10 months away but that did not slow her down...She had me look up the cost on the website and was working non-stop doing babysitting for me and snow shoveling and cleaning for Grandma to earn the money. Grandma pulled through and made her a deal she would order it for her with some accountability for no-fighting with siblings, etc. and she is now the proud owner of her very own tiara. She also came home and earned more money to buy a cute container for the tiara from hobby lobby.

Lillian seems to be hitting the 8 year old phase of fighting anything requested of her. Jocelyn is barely growing out of that, so I guess it is fitting that we have another one slide into position. She does a great job of piano, homework, chores, or whatever once she finally dives in to accomplish it, but she wants to argue and fight for a good hour previous to the diving in. I have to tell myself it is only a phase and keep the positive encouragement and hugs coming but, man!! that can be difficult some days. My mom has been amazing at having patience with it all (just like she did with me growing up) so this week while she is in town she has helped Lillian complete her piano practice, her 100 day t-shirt project and a "sweater" for her stuffed animal dog. An example of Lillian's art work one day during lunch over Christmas break. Her name built from cheese sticks and Pretzel sticks.

Lillian and Jonas on the 100th day of school. Lillian made her own shirt

Lillian adorning herself with every bow we own. This motivated a bow clean out by yours truly!

This semester Lillian's friends that were taking art with her have either moved or stopped taking lessons so I was proud of her for continuing to go to art class even without the social aspect she was used to. She is always working on some type of art or craft project or dress up when she is at home and is generous with her skills-helping Jonas to build his animals a house out of cardboard or making cards for others. With the new year brought new primary classes at church so Jared and I are her Primary (Sunday school) teachers. It is an adjustment from the 5 year olds we were teaching but a good group of kids that we are excited to help prepare for baptism. She even had her "8 is great" fireside and requested that Jared and I take just her-she was very excited about the whole prospect.

Jonas continues to LOVE school especially once he arrives in the morning (it can be a little difficult to coax him out the door). Here he is displaying the crafts that he made over Thanksgiving. We had to remove them from the fridge so we could display Christmas cards instead and he was disappointed. He is very proud of what he is learning and although it makes him pretty tired by the end of the day, he really enjoys it. We finished up teaching his primary class and we will miss these cute kiddos!

On the 100th day of school Jonas came out of the classroom singing "Hi Ho, Hi Ho, 100 days ago We started school now we're so cool. Hi ho, hi ho, hi ho, hi ho." And was very proud of himself. He is acquiring the skills to read but tries to guess instead of sounding out words. Much like Jocelyn when she was learning to read. Lillian was willing to dive in and sound out words and consequently read at a younger age. We'll have to set aside more time to practice with him!

Our last week with our 5 year old Sunday School Class

Emma has been LOVING puzzles lately. I can get an entire stack out to occupy her while I am getting ready, after other kids have gone to bed (if she has napped and has permission to stay up), while I am working, etc. She has not expressed the same diligence in learning her letters and numbers so we are just slowly encouraging that too. But for now, the puzzle love has been great! She is also impressive at playing "Memory" and we are getting more practice now that we have 9 am church and have more time on Sunday afternoons to play games, nap, bake, etc.

Emma putting together a puzzle in my bathroom while I was getting ready for the day

Playing Candyland on a Sunday afternoon

I am in the middle of teaching another round of Emma's preschool which is fun and challenging. All the girls have barely turned 3 so they can be a little emotional, but I enjoy teaching for the most part. Emma has been phasing out naps a little more so she naps about half the time. It works well that way in general because the days when we are out and about she can just stay awake and the days we are home I can coax her into taking a nap. We are still enjoying my mom coming to stay with us about one week out of the month when my dad comes down to stay with us for work every week. Especially Emma benefits from being able to do legos, puzzles and reading with Nana while I run around helping the older kids with their commitments.