Tuesday, June 7, 2011

May Newsletter

May 2011

FAMILY: Some of our May adventures include: A family trip to Parowan Gap to see the Patroglyphs, driving to Fredonia, AZ to play with the Barons on the 4th, A great Mother’s Day - complete with homemade pancakes and cards and Heidi & Jason speaking in church - also that night we drove to Grandma Devenish’s for a yummy BBQ ribs dinner (and thanks again for the patio set!!), celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary by going out to eat that night & a Vegas weekend a couple weeks later, Camri coming over to play and having fun watching movies, painting nails, baking cookies, eating popcorn, eating pancakes, going swimming, going to the park, and taking naps. Thanks for coming to play Camri!! On the 24th we took a quick trip to St. George to watch Camri’s 5th grade graduation program. She did a great job & it was educational & fun to watch their history program that they put together. Going to SLC & getting our new trailer (hooray!) and camping out up Mapleton for Memorial weekend. On our way back, we met the Devenish’s in Beaver and gave DeeAnn her birthday present & showed off our new toy. We’ve also seen a few homes and lots of land this month. And we’ve enjoyed our lunch play date in the park with daddy on Wednesdays.


JASON: Jason had a good month- still learning new things at his job and meeting new people. He was supposed to go to meeting in Ogden this month, but they cancelled travel budgets for the time being. He really enjoys the flexibility of his hours and was able to work four 10s, so we could take Friday off at the end of the month to go camping. He enjoyed our Vegas anniversary vacation and really was impressed with the Cirque Du Soleli show. Allergies and sinus issues have really hit Jason hard the past month or two. He will get a really bad headache & the only thing that seems to help at all is Advil Sinus.

HEIDI: Heidi is still enjoying living here. She thinks part of the problem that it’s taken so long to decide where to move or build is that they are loving where they’re at so much. Still – much of her time and thoughts are taken up with the decisions ahead of them. Heidi got a new training watch for Mother’s Day and it was wonderful! She enjoyed spending time with her sweetheart on their anniversary dinner and vacation. She loved the Mystere show and the fun rides at Circus Circus – especially the Dora/Diego 4D show. The girls would have loved that one. She read a couple good books this month – The Hidden Garden and Heaven is for Real. Jason & Heidi read Heaven is for Real together & it was really neat – a true story about a 4-year-old boy who went to heaven. She was VERY excited to finally get to use our new trailer - and already has 5 more camping trips planned. Our summer is looking busy! She enjoyed getting to spend time with her family over Memorial Day as well.

McKINLEY:

-Once in a while, mom will ask McKinley if she wants to call a friend & McKinley will say “no mom! I just want it to be a family day!”
-McKinley thinks you can find any answer online. She will ask a question that mom or dad doesn’t know the answer to & she’ll say “well, look it up online!” One day McKinley was asking about Heavenly Father & mom was trying to explain to her about him being eternal. She told her that He doesn’t have a beginning or an end. Her eyes bugged out & she said “WHAT? How come??” Mom said she didn’t know & McKinley said “well – look it up online!”

-McKinley lost her other top tooth at the beginning of the month! Mom helped pull it out & McKinley was eager to put it under her pillow. Unfortunately, there was no money under her pillow the next morning. Daddy explained that it was Mother’s Day & she probably had the day off.

-McKinley is still working hard on her Handipoints goals – and doing her chores pretty good most days. She and Ireland wanted ice cream as their goal. McKinley earned some strawberry ice cream and she had a great time eating a little bit every night until it was gone (pint size J

-McKinley is BIG into “what if”s lately. Here are a few examples: “Mom – what if we played with our food and ate our toys?”, “What if everyone had hair longer than Repunzel’s?” “Dad – what if we only wore towels all the time?” Mom and dad have had a interesting time trying to come up with answers to all these what if questions!

-One day McKinley said “When I’m a parent, I’ll always live by Michael. There you go McKinley – it’s documented. Now – let’s see! J

-McKinley loves to talk to her cousins for a long time on the phone. She will sit & just talk about nothing & everything – she just loves to hear her cousins’ voices.

-One day as mom was fixing McKinley’s hair, she said “Mom – maybe one day Heavenly Father will come down and make Michael (her cousin) my friend so I then I can marry him!”

-There has been a lot of copying going on at our house – usually Ireland copying everything McKinley says & McKinley getting mad at her. Obviously all the copying had her really annoyed because one day she said “Mom – it kind of bugs me that the mirror keeps copying me.”

-McKinley’s creativity and thinking skills sure kick in when it involves her happiness. One day we were ready to go to playgroup, but the truck was still hitched to the trailer and there was no way mom was going to haul it. We were all disappointed, but McKinley came up with probably 5 different solutions to the problem – a copule of them being “Mom – let’s just call someone from playgroup and have them pick us up and take us there!” and “Well, we could just ask someone to borrow their car to go over there!” When she wants something to happen, she will think of any which way to make it work!

-With the extra daylight, the girls have had a hard time going to bed at night. They will keep coming out even until it gets late. Mom put them back in bed for the umpteenth time & went to leave & she heard McKinley say “I wish we were nocturnal!”

-McKinley & Ireland have been spending more time with the Gardner’s lately – Tyrus & Sienna. They love to go play & have them come over.

IRELAND:

-One day when we were in the bathroom fixing hair, we were talking about how McKinley had long hair. Ireland said “Mom – will you brush my hair long please?”

-One day Ireland was drawing a picture on the table while mom was fixing dinner. She stopped & said “Mom – what is it?” Mom looked at the drawing & said “A Mountain?” Ireland – “No.” Mom – “A Hill?” Ireland “No…. It’s Dog Poo!!”

-Ireland has really been take charge with her food lately. She needs to learn to ask more before she takes, but she can pour her own cereal and milk and gets her own yogurt and cinnamon bread when she wants a snack.

-Ireland has been really good at doing her Handipoints chores lately. She earned a pint of chocolate ice cream!

-One day Ireland was brushing mom’s hair. Mom was loving it and in a trance. Ireland kept running to the bathroom and coming back to brush some more. Daddy came in the room while mom was relaxing – enjoying her hairbrushing. Dad said “Umm… you do know that she’s putting water and hand soap in the brush & coming back and brushing it into your hair, right?” Well, let’s just say that mom must’ve been a little tired that day. Her hair smelled like hand soap till the next day.

-While McKinley loves to talk for a long while on the phone, Ireland says about 2 words & says she doesn’t want to talk anymore. She loves to see her cousins on Skype, but then she cries that she wants to go over there.

-Ireland has been a bit grouchy on the mornings where we wake her up. One morning she was just so upset. She kept yelling “NOOO! I don’t WANT it to be morning! It’s going to be NIGHTTIME!”

-Most times if you ask Ireland why she will say “Cuz just becuz.”

-Ireland has had fun playing more with her friend across the street – Sienna.

-We have had a real struggle with Ireland keeping her seatbelt OVER her shoulder. She likes to put it under her arm while we’re driving & we have to remind her numerous times to keep it on her shoulder. We may have to resort to a safety pin in the future.

-Ireland will say “Where did Kezi come from?” and “Is Kezi in your tummy mommy?”

-She calls them “Rispie Crispies”

KEZIA:

-Kezia is saying sentences now! She says “Here you go mommy” and “I get it” (I’ll get it) and “don’t want it” and “Bama’s house!”– those are a few of her favorites. She also is really good at reciting after us when we help her with the prayer!

-With the changes in insurance, there was a lapse in Kezi’s atenolol SVT medicine. Mommy wasn’t sure if it would make a huge difference since she’s gone for a day or so without in the past & been fine. But after about 4 days without her medicine, we could see the difference. She wasn’t urinating as much anymore and starting getting the cold extremities again – and just not acting herself. We were thankful when we got her back on the medicine & she seemed herself again.

- More of her cute sayings are “Ewww!” when she sees something she thinks is yucky and “Cute!” when we put a bow in her hair or a dress on her.

-Kezi calls broccoli trees. She’ll say “Pees (please) tees (trees)”

-Kezi is starting to get really particular about things. She wants CHOCOLATE milk (though we’ve finally told her it’s all gone & she seems to have accepted that), and she wants “Kitty jamas (pajamas)” and she will let you know if she’s in the mood for juice NOT milk!

-Kezi likes to play with our alarm clock when we’re all hanging out in mommy & daddy’s room. One morning Jason woke up 30 minutes early because of our little button-pusher!

-It’s so cute when Kezi says “____(Kinley/Ireland/Mom/Dad/Tundra/Sydney) where AAARRRREE YOUUUUUU?”

-Kezi isn’t a huge fan of cereal in the morning (even sweetened cereal), but she will eat 2 bowls of oatmeal in a heartbeat!

-Another of Kezi’s sayings is “Can I?” whenever she sees something that she wants to do/play/eat.

-Kezi is certainly our sensitive child. When someone is crying, she will go up to them and sign and say “Sorry ____ (Kinley/Ireland)”

-She has discovered that crayons, pencils and markers can be used on things other than paper. Even though we keep trying to teach her that coloring on paper is “yes, yes” and everything else is “no, no,” she still continues to color on her arms, legs, clothes, walls, dresser, and table. And McKinley’s shoe. We love this stage! K

-She’s getting better with please & thank you & if you say “what do you say?” She will say please or thank you. She has come to mom & said “please cracker.” So cute!

-Kezi sure loves to mess up McKinley & Ireland’s room! They will work hard to clean it up & 5 minutes later, Kezi has all the blocks out and half the books off the shelf!

-Kezi still has an infatuation with the toilet and toothbrushes. Which are not a good combination.

-Kezi is such a pro with pointing to face parts – nose, eyes, ears, mouth, tongue, teeth, chin, and even eyelashes! She loves to point to other people’s facial features.

3 comments:

Get Hooked said...

It's interesting to read about McKinley. Alyssa and her are doing so many of the same things. I was just putting together a post about What if's. Too funny. I didn't realize it was an age thing. Love to hear about your cute family. Can I talk you into doing the Cedar Canyon half marathon in September? I'd see you there... I hope.

Ryan and Shannan Hoffman said...

Loved your updates and the pictures of the girls on the camping trip. Makes me want to go camping!!

Lena Baron said...

I so love your updates!