Who Needs TV?

My parents always said we kids were their entertainment. This gave us a good laugh.



Halfway through Lily's little show Sierra got really excited and started to join in. Lucky I had my Ipod (excuse my thumb). So funny ;)

Reading!

Another milestone in our family! Lily has been doing lessons with me from a book called "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." A friend from church recommended it to me. I'd wanted to do home preschool with Lily for a long time and either she or I when we tried it would make it too elaborate to be practical so we didn't follow through with it as a regular thing. We read a lot, and sang songs at times, but I wanted to do more. She was ready to learn more and I wanted to send her to school a little better prepared in some way to give her added confidence because she gets very shy and nervous around new people and in new situations. Mike and I figured reading was the most important thing we could teach her. So when we heard about this book - lessons all ready to go it sounded like just the thing. We've been doing it for (what feels like) a long time (much more than 100 days) and tracking our progress on a sticker chart.

It hasn't been easy. Actually, it was pretty easy at first and for a while -- it was going really well. It was super exciting to see her learning to sound things out and watch her progress...but somewhere in the middle or maybe about 75% through it got very difficult. It started to turn into a battle - get a little boring, get a little more difficult with a baby sister grabbing at the book wanting to eat it, etc, etc. We tried mixing it up -- doing it during baby's nap, throwing some math lessons in there some days of the week, changing the look of the format (so it didn't look so long) going through the material just once instead of twice, changing up the incentives so that what was supposed to be a twenty minute lesson wouldn't take us 2 hours... (Trying to add an incentive to speed it up actually had the opposite effect and ended up being scrapped.) There were many days where other things in life just kept us from getting to her lesson, or Lily just wasn't cooperating. I thought about quitting, worried that pushing her would make Lily hate reading, but ultimately decided I wanted her to see it through. (Besides any kid who loves reading bedtime stories with her dad as much as she does, and is part me - just isn't likely to end up hating reading!) So I don't even know how many days later...We finally reached the end. Lesson 100! Woo hoo!!! I can't even tell you how excited I am to be done with this book! The learning to read journey is not over, and we plan to continue on in our own way, but it is so nice that we completed our goal, Lily earned her reward, and now we can change it up even more  and move forward! 

Dun da dun tah!

 A big sticker to finish off such a big accomplishment - we use what we have - this was Lily's choice :)

So proud! 

The original plan to celebrate was to go to a movie with her Dad and get popcorn and candy, but like most of our plans they got changed up. Lily decided she wanted to pick out a movie to buy and watch at home instead, and we went out for McDonald's and she got to spend $10 however she wanted and pick out a candy. She picked out a DVD pack of Max and Ruby epidsodes, a Barbie fridge for her doll house, and Starburst. On the way to pick out her reward she was reading me street signs. "Mom, I just read 'No Park, and I thought it was a park, but then I realized it was No Park-ing!" "Mom, I just read part of another sign that said 'No Stopping!'"

Here's a little sample of her reading...and me trying to correct without helping her too much.

She tries to go too fast, and maybe I do too. We still have a lot to work on, but I am so proud of my girl!!! I remember learning to read being very hard for me - I certainly wasn't doing it at age 4! Go, Lily Go!

Walking!

Sierra is really walking! Today we've seen her longest stretches yet - more than just a few steps. 11 months old!





This is good because carrying her has really been messing with my back and arm, but she is getting into way more stuff than Lily did so I'm sure I will still be grabbing and holding her a lot just to keep her out of trouble! Can't believe how steady she is already, but she has been working on it for a while!

Little Miss Independent :)

Miracles happen

The best gift I got today was one I already had, but that could have been smashed to smithereens if my Heavenly Father hadn't had my back.

We started out to dinner tonight and (I did something I never do) I stupidly set my digital camera on top of the car for just a sec... Right. Totally forgot about it, of course. To my surprise, several turns and blocks away, driving at 45 miles an hour... my little camera swings through my open window - cracked open just enough to admit it through - dangling precariously by my little camera string, case gone (ripped off and recovered later), just long enough for me to reach up and grab it before it could bang about and crash to the ground.

It was totally like an angel was holding it there until I could grab it to protect it for me.

Yeah I know you can explain it - the string just happened to catch a little in the door (my window just happened to be open enough to let it through, and keep it from swinging back out!). After other events of the day -- I totally feel like it was a little reminder from my Heavenly Father that He is watching out for me, that He knows me, and that He was protecting my sometimes fragile emotions. Yeah, it's just a little pocket camera - but... I'm really particular about my camera, low on funds to replace it willy-nilly, and having a little camera like that to capture memories of my kids is really important to me. I think He knew that losing it would have really not been good for me today! But having it swing through the window safely into my hands made me feel totally different from the way I had been feeling 2 seconds before that - when I had no idea my camera wasn't safe in my bag in the car, and I was dwelling on a misbehaving child and other aspects of my day and life that I wasn't feeling too happy about or in control of.

I've been in a reflective mood today. (And though I am far from perfect and far from a pillar of strength...) I'm so grateful for my Heavenly Father's influence on my life. The good habits and blessings I have from being raised with his gospel and knowledge of his eternal plan. It's so easy to get weighed down by all the hard things in life - it's nice to be reminded that there is more to it than what I am currently caught up in, that I'm a daughter of a Heavenly Father too, who really does know and love me and have His own wise plans for me and my family. I am thankful for my camera, and my testimony. This incident gives me hope that some other good things will swing into our lives soon!

Fast mover

She's a super fast crawler and almost walking, but I didn't expect Sierra to have her first kiss this young! 

She spotted little Porter in Sunday school. Their eyes locked and there was an instant connection. You could see the excitement fairly bouncing out of them. Sierra crawled up the aisle to him and they started to talk. Before you know it she kissed him! In church, and right in front of his parents! His cheeks were rosy red, but maybe they always are... She patted him gently on the top of the head, then leaned over and gave him a hug - then she went for his toy, but by that point her dad intervened. I knew she was a fast mover, but didn't expect my baby to have her first kiss before she was even a year old! A younger man too - 7 months to her 11. I have to give it to her - he was super cute! Gotta watch this girl :)

Hello Again

So much for blogging more. Life has been crazy, as it just is for everyone I'm sure. I will say what I am sure I have said and will say again: Being a mom is harder than I ever imagined.

Life is hard, but I still have air in my lungs, head just above water. I won't publicly whine about the many things that have been making life feel harder lately - just want you to know when I post cute pictures of my girls that though they are adorable and I mostly try to capture our best memories - our life is not perfect, and if you don't hear from me for a while it is probably because I am just a tad bit overwhelmed with daily living to blog too much about it. But I'm not giving up - so here's a random post for today.

Today I was so grateful to have Mike around to help me wrangle Super Squirmy during her diaper change death rolls because my arm and back have been killing me for the past week or so and I really don't know how I'm going to rest it so it can get better and take care of my baby at the same time. Pinched nerve/carpal tunnel type pain I get periodically that makes it hurt to even pick up a plate. Hope my chiropractor can work his miracles when I go to see him next week. Or any type of miracle that could be worked even sooner would be most welcome!

Today we watched the last sessions of general conference and Lily (4 going on 5) made beautiful coloring pages for all of us almost totally within the lines, sang her own made up hymns, listened to and commented on some of the talks, and told me she loves conference! (Even after 4 two hour long sessions over 2 days. That seemed like forever when I was little.) Yay! Sharing my love of it with my kid! I think the homemade cinnamon roll tradition I've started has helped.

Today I was uplifted by the spirit as I listened to the prophet and apostles speak the words of God. President Monson was cracking me up with all his exaggerated facial expressions, and I especially loved Elder Holland's talk this afternoon about belief and faith. It felt liberating. Like a load off my self-inflicted feelings of inadequacy. He talked about being true to the faith we do have not letting doubts lead us. And there were a few gems - I quote: "Remember in this world everyone is to walk by faith so be kind regarding human frailty. Your own, as well as those who serve with you in a church led by volunteer mortal men and women. Except in the case of his only perfect begotten son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but he deals with it. So should we." What a wonderful conference. You can watch it all HERE.

Today we walked over to Lily's future elementary school to see how long it will take us to walk there when she begins - in August! Yikes! Kindergarten! Not too bad of a walk - 16 minutes just taking our time. Lily was disappointed that the playground was locked up so we couldn't play there, we played Princess ball in the backyard and she put a Roly Poly on the bridge of her nose.

Today Lily took her first mud bath in the backyard and I didn't get a picture of it! Mike was on the phone with his mom and I was nursing the baby inside - Mike had her hosed off and in a bath before I even thought of it.

Today Sierra watched part of conference too, stuck everything she could in her mouth, and played peekaboo with a bib, a blanket, and her dad's baseball cap. Pulling them up and down herself and giggling in the cutest way whenever you caught her eye.

Today Sierra stood up on her own without holding on to anything about a million times, promptly falling back down half of them. And crawled around super fast in the grass making gremlin noises.

Tonight Sierra showed us some crazy sitting down dance moves when Lily turned on her Choo Choo song tonight and got so excited she stood up even more and tried walking around while Lily ran circles around her. When it was bedtime and we switched to a lullaby - she wasn't too happy because she still wanted to be bopping to the beat, and there wasn't one.

Tonight it took a while to get the girls to sleep, but once they were I just stood there and marveled at their beauty and thought of a favorite phrase of my parents: "They're so sweet - when they're asleep." It is so true. I have the most beautiful daughters. It's super hard and all consuming and sometimes I think I'm just too tired to be a mom, but I love them so much! What could be better?