Journaling

I don't think a day goes by that I don't yell at my kids for misbehaving or not listening. It really gets on my nerves. I feel like I am constantly talking in a loud angry voice. I don't like it, but I just can't get through to our kids.

I can tell that they don't like it either, but what else is there to do. I have come to the decision that I'm just not going to do it anymore. This is going to be extremely hard and I've tried it once before, to no avail. This time, I'm done. I'm done yelling, I'm done caring, I'm just done.

I am going to do my best to talk in a calm voice and if they don't listen I'm just going to go straight to their jars and remove marbles. We'll see how lasts longer, my patience or the kids behavior.

Family Night Fun

After a stressful work and school week Ben really wanted to have some fun. We decided to go to Denny's to eat and then finish the night with a movie. 

The kids love Denny's and they get the same things each time. At least I know they'll eat what we pay for. They also love to color and play games with the coloring paper. William has even got the hang of what crayons are for.

After we were done eating, we headed to CinePointe 6. We planned to watch The Penguins of Madagascar. I was surprised at how many people were there. It was almost a full house.

Before we went in for the movie the kids had a blast playing on their arcade games and coin rides. William loved the horse and the race car. Owen and Gabbi took turns driving the diesel. They all had so much fun that they almost didn't want to go in and watch the show. But once we did, they loved the show.

The movie was cute. The kids loved it too, well most of them. Gabbi wasn't a fan of the ending; it scared her. She was so scared that she put her head down and didn't bring it back up. She didn't see the happy ending. Owen loved the whole thing and William did a pretty good job too. He and I stood in the back the majority of the time, but at least we got to watch the whole thing.

100th day at school

Gabbi had her 100th day at school last week. Each of them were asked to gather 100 things and bring them to school. They were to keep it a secret, write three clues, and then their classmate could try and guess what it was. Gabbi and I, well me, decided that we would do bobby pins. It's the only thing I had 100 of I surly wasn't going to go out and buy something.

She wasn't very happy with the choice I made. She really wanted to do jewelry. I wasn't going to give her 100 pieces of my jewelry. So reluctantly she put the bobby pins in a baggie and then we put it in an envelope with her clues written on the outside.

When I picked her up that day she talked about the math projects they did that all had to do with 100. I asked her if they guessed her 100 items and they did, but not till the last clue. She was proud and happy that they couldn't guess it till the last one.

Poser

Every time Owen see me with my phone he begs me to take his picture. I love his enthusiasm, so I of course can't help and snap one. 

This one was from last week. Don't you love the mark above his eyebrow. It got a lot worse after that. I guess that's was he gets from rubbing his head on the carpet, rug burn. 

15 Month Check-Up

I can't believe how much time flies when you have a little one at home. He's out of that baby stage completely and is a full blown toddler. 

He's cruising like crazy, but hasn't quite grasped onto the fact that his head is heavier then his feet and it tends to get a head of him when he's in a hurry. He falls a lot, but he gets back up there every time. 

He says the typically baby/toddler words of "mamma, dadda, Nana, etc" I've tried to teach him a few of the baby sign words, but he just isn't interested. 

He finally got some teeth, I was worried they didn't exists for him. I of course was worried over nothing, because they did eventually come in. His first one came in by itself, but since then he's had multiples come in at one time.

He loves all kinds of foods. I haven't found one yet that he won't eat. Some take him longer to eat then others, but he'll eat them all the same.

At his check-up his doctor said he was doing great. He was on track with his growth chart and is a healthy happy boy. He had no worries, which makes me happy.

He weighed in at 23.19 lbs   31%
Measured in at 30.5 in    32%

He fits in with the rest of them; small, but we wouldn't have it any other way.

Dentist

Owen had his dental check-up a week or so ago. He did such a great job too. He was the big helper with the sucker thing, opening his mouth, etc. 

He loves being at the Dentist and you can totally tell. I'm not sure if its because he gets a prize when he's done, gets to wear the cool glasses, or if it because he gets to visit Nana at work. Either way, I am glad that he is not afraid of the Dentist especially because of what he has been through.

He got a great report too. I was so worried about his sucking on his fingers. He has stopped sucking on them during the day thanks to me threatening to tear up his little blankie and he can't live without his blankie. I still can't get him to stop sucking on them at night. Anyway, the Dentist said that he can already see a difference in his bite from his last visit. He said it is looking much better and will fully correct itself once I can get him to keep his fingers out of his mouth at night. One day...

Prizes

Owen was adamant that I take a picture of him with the cars that he chose at Boondocks. I told him that I would take a picture of him playing with them, but he said no, he wanted a picture of him with the new cars not opened. They didn't stay no opened for long. After he was done with breakfast, he ripped them open and had a blast.

William loved his as well. He mainly tried to eat the frogs, but had a blast with that ball. We walked around with it for hours. Every once in a while he would try to throw it. It was so cute to see him try to throw it. I couldn't help but laugh each time and he joined me too.

Boondocks

Gabbi and Ben both had Martin Luther King Day off. Ben really wanted to be able to do something fun with the kids. After talking about we decided that we would go to Boondocks. We have never been there before and thought it would be a lot of fun. A friend of our told us about discount tickets on ksl Deals and they gave us tickets 50% off. It was perfect, made our day that much better.

The passes were for unlimited play at any of their attractions and 5 dollars per person of arcade play. When we got there, I have to admit it was a little overwhelming. There was so much to see and do, we weren't sure what to do. 

The first thing the kids were drawn to was the kid play zone. It had slides, climbing ropes, hammocks, etc to play on. All three of them had so much fun, especially William. He didn't travel far, but he had so much fun on these bungee like things. I don't even know how to explain what they are. It was so cute to watch him.

After a while of playing at the kid zone we decided to walk around and see what else they had to offer. We came across roller ball. It's bowling with small balls and small pins. I was surprised at how much fun it was.

After a few rounds of roller ball, it was time to hit the cafe for lunch. We ordered a pizza and while waiting for it to come, the kids had a lot of fun coloring all over the activity page. William was even having fun with Ben. They were playing Star Wars with straws. He had the biggest smile on his face. Ben was having fun too.

While eating, it was hard to keep the kids focused on their food. We were sitting by the window and they were watching everyone having fun; racing the go carts, playing mini golf, etc. We had to remind them that as soon as they were done eating we could go back to having fun. That did it. They scarfed down their lunch and we headed for more fun.

The lines were getting long so we decided to get in a line before it go to long. The line we hit first was laser tag. We were so glad that Owen was able to go in. He just barely made the height requirement by 1 inch. He was so excited.

When we got into the room, we got the kids suited up and awaited instructions. When they were done telling us how it all works, we headed into the arena and awaited for the game to begin. They even let me and William in to watch. I almost regret watching the strobe lights were driving me crazy, but it was worth watching the looks on the kids faces as they chased Ben around the arena shooting whatever was in front  of them.

The kids had a lot of fun, however they didn't score so hot, not that we were expecting them two but both Ben and I were surprised at their negative scores. They were so excited about their scores too, it was pretty funny.

After we were done playing laser tag we hit the arcade floor. We had a lot of tokens to burn. They had so much fun playing so many of the different games. We earned a lot of tickets too. We one 1000 ticket bonus on a game called "big bass". I couldn't believe it. All together we got over 1600 tickets. The kids were ecstatic to know that they could get a prize before we left.

After a while of playing we hit the go carts. We had to take turns with the kids because William of course wasn't big enough to ride along, not that we would have had run for him in the cart anyways. Both of the kids loved it. Our first round Ben drove with Owen and I drove with Gabbi while sadly William stayed in his stroller watching.

After one round of go carts, the kids wanted to warm up. We decided to head back inside to play some more games and let the kids play in the kid zone again.

William and I found a racing game that he really wanted to try. It was a Mario Cart game. He was so excited to be racing on the game. He did awesome, he came in 1st place both times. It was awesome, he was so happy that he came in first. So much that he asked me to get a picture of it to prove to Ben that he know how to "race!"

While Owen and I were racing Ben and Gabbi did a 4D experience. It was like a ride that motivated all the scenes. They were on the front row, in all the action. The look on Gabbi's face however was a look of terror. She said she wouldn't do that again. Ben said that he agreed.

After walking around the arcade and playing a few more games, we stopped by the bowling desk. There was an hour wait for a lane, so we decided to go play mini golf while we waited.

The kids did much better this time round verse the last time we played mini golf. They actually hit the ball with the club, took turns, etc. They both did a really good job, but we weren't keeping score.

Half way through our game of mini golf, the buzzer went off telling us that there was a lane open and waiting for us. So we put the clubs away and headed to the alley.

We grabbed the kids shoes, bowling balls, and found our lane. The kids were so excited. We set up the score board and let the kids have at it. Even William had a few turns.

Owen had a hard time when it was someone else's turn and not his own. He also had a hard time not taking our "neighbors" bowling ball. It had a shark on it and he really wanted to bowl with it. At one point he actually picked it up and tried to bowl with it. The "neighbors" bowling next to us were so understanding, after all he was bowling with three kids of his own.

Gabbi did really good. She started off using the rail help, but then decided that she could bowl without it. I think it was because the three boys bowling next to us didn't use the rail help. She wanted to be just like them; all though she said it was because she wanted to bowl like Ben.

Ben and I took turns bowling and holding William, we also took turns sharing our turn with William.

I was surprised at the scores. I say Ben and I both get a handicap because we were bowling with a child on the hip every once and a while. :) I was also surprised at how well the kids did. It helped that they had the bumpers, but it wouldn't have been as fun for them had they got the gutter every time. They had a blast.

After bowling, the kids begged us to go on the go carts again. This time we switched it up. Ben took Gabbi and I took Owen. It was colder now then it was earlier, but it was still nice out and not to bad. The kids loved the ride, but both said they were ready to go back inside.

We had a few more dollars on our game cards and found the perfect game. We had four dollars left and this game was a dollar a person and four people could play. It was perfect.

The game was a Nascar racing game. It was a small track and it was the first one to complete 15 laps to win. The kids were laughing and having a blast especially because they had really no idea how the game worked, but they had a fun time trying. Ben snuck in right at the end and beat me, but as you can probably guess we all had fun playing a game together. After all it was our last one.

We had decided it was finally time to go. We had been there all day and it was definitely time to hit the road. We cashed in our tickets and let the kids pick a few prizes. Gabbi picked a Panda Bear hat, Owen of course pick cars, and William picked a ball and some jumping frogs.

To finish off the day we stopped in at Cold Stone for a sweet treat. What a good and yummy way to end our family day at Boondocks.

Go Fish

A few Sunday's ago the boys (Ben and Owen) went Home Teaching. While the boys were gone and William napping, Gabbi and I had some one on one time. When asked what she wanted to do, she said a game. She went into the game cupboard and pulled out go fish. We played for a while and had a blast. It was nice not having to yell at her or having to remind her to mind. It was a much needed break for both of us.