Sleep Sitting

After family dinner was over we headed home. On the way home William was falling asleep. Once we got home and inside we told the kids to go get ready for bed. Ben had set William down on the kitchen floor and told him to take off his shoes. He managed to take off his shoes, but when we came back to get him to brush his teeth, this is what we found.

He sat there bobbing his head for a good 10 minutes. We couldn't help but take advantage of this. Fun photo opp. 

We finally picked him up and put him in pajamas so he could go to bed.

Potty

We've have been slowly introducing the toilet to William. Some days he's happy to try some days he won't give it a thought. Everyday we ask him if he wants to go on the potty, but he yells no and runs to get a diaper for us to change him instead. 

Ben continues to reassure me that he will one day show interest. He will when he's ready; his time. The only positive thing is that he hates being dirty. Whenever he needs to be changed he lets us know.

Ben asked him if he wanted to sit on the potty while they were getting ready for bed. He told Ben that he already went in his diaper, but Ben asked him again if he wanted to sit on the potty anyways. He did and to his surprise he heard a "tinkle tinkle." 

He was so proud of himself and hopped of the toilet to flush and wash his hands.

Sadly the next day when we asked him if he wanted to go on the potty he said no.

Exercising

This boy, despite being the youngest and often forgotten by his siblings, he has moments of pure entertainment. 

This particular moment he decided that he was going to exercise. Each of the kids try to use the elliptical runner, but its more funny to watch William. It's hard for him to move the foot platforms, but he's determined. When he gets tired of that he turns to the exercise ball. He has seen us use it, but because of his size he can't do what we do. That doesn't stop him though. He makes up his own exercise routine. 

Then last but not least he of course had to go for a run. He was so excited with how fast he could run. He declared that he won. It completely made my morning.

1st offical lost tooth

It finally happened. Owen lost his first offical tooth. He's been down one since he was two, but this one came out all on its own. Well almost on its own.

Tonight we took the kids to Mom and Dad's while we went to the stake dinner. When went to pick them up the kids didn't want to leave. Dad had just gotten home from work and was eating dinner when we got there. The kids were anxiously waiting for him to finish so they could play. 

We hung around for a little bit so the kids could play with Papa. Not as long as they wanted though. Each one of them got a few minutes with Papa. Gabbi and Papa finished a boat made out of Lego's and the boys rough housed. 

While Papa and Owen were rough housing his tooth came out. He didn't even notice that it happened. He was walking down the hall to go and get his shoes on and then came running back into the office saying that it was gone. We stopped and tried to find where it fell.  There it was on the floor in front of the couch. He was so excited he ran around the house and showed everyone his lost tooth.

He couldn't wait to get home so the tooth fairy could come. He ran to the van and got in his seat belt really fast. If only he could do that every time. When we got home he quickly put on his pajamas, brushed his teeth, and set out his tooth for the tooth fairy. He made it easy for her too and left his tooth in a baggie on his dresser. He wanted to make sure she could find.

In the morning he was happy to see that she had come to visit and left him four shiny quarters.

Wash day

At school Owen's class is bringing home gold star reader books. It a more advanced book then the ones they've had before. 

The particular book for this week was called Wash Day. In the book there are two kids who help out their day with Wash Day. They help wash the dishes, the toys, the rug, and the walls. Owen had so much fun with the book that he wanted to do as the little boys did. He asked for a wash cloth and some soapy water so he could have wash day too. Once he had his wash cloth he went to town on the walls.

William too wanted to join in when he saw what Owen was doing. He was a little more ittitaing with it though. He refused to stop even after Owed was done.

It was really cute to watch the the boys help out with the walls, the only bad part was that I had to go behind them to finish the walls myself.

Spirit week

The kids at Spirit week all week at school. They both were really excited about it.

Day 1 was Hat Day. "HATS off to the amazing teachers and students of North Ogden Elementary!" The kids had a lot of hats to choose from. Gabbi choose my old black hat and Owen choose his shark crocheted hat. Both were really excited that they could finally wear a hat to school.

William was too, he also wore his shark crocheted hat around the house all day until the other two got home from school. He also wanted to be apart of their picture, although he wouldn't put his hat on for the picture.

Day 2, Valentine's Day, was Dress to Impress Day. "North Ogden Eagles are always impressing others because they are AMAZING!" Gabbi choose to wear her heart shirt. Her teacher told the class to wear Valentines colors instead of wearing dress clothes because they would be painting in art class and she didn't want them to ruin their dress clothes. Owen choose to wear khaki pants, red shirt, and a button up. He even let me do his hair, which doesn't happen very often.

William again wanted to get into the action as well. He wanted to get dressed as well even though we had no where to go.

Day 3 was Fun and Wild Sock Day. "We love the SOCKS off of our school!" I think this day is the kids favorite because they get to go through my sock drawer. Sadly the majority of them are Christmas patterns, but that didn't seem to stop them from picking a pair.

And like clockwork William had to pick a pair too.

Day 4 was Crazy Hair Day. "We are CRAZY about our school!" Gabbi had a lot of ideas running through her head, but sadly I couldn't make any of them work. We finally went with crazy little buns. Owen wanted a repeat of what we did last time, but wanted to add a little more flare. This time we did spiky and a sparkly rainbow pattern of headbands.

William followed his brother foot step and did multiple headbands as well.

The kids had a blast with spirit week and couldn't stop talking about what they would do next time spirit week came around.

On top of the world

Owen was invited to go to the park and play with his friend. We decided to go to the new park by the school. The kids really seem to like that one.

When we got there we got there before his friend so I just let the boys play while we waited. They has a blast running around to the different items to play on. 

Owen happily ran over to the giant climbing tower and climbed straight to the top. When he got to the top he yelled "I'm on top of the world." I'm not sure where he heard that from, but I just laughed. He yelled for me to take his picture so he could always remember what it felt like to be on top of the world.

Asleep

We've started reading Harry Potter with the kids before bedtime. Gabbi and Owen seem to enjoy it, but William grabs a book from the cupboard and does his own thing. 

This particular night he came to sit on my lap as I began to read. I checked on him every so often while I was reading. When I was done reading for the night, I closed the book and turned to look at him. He was fast asleep. I wasn't sure for how long, but at least it was one down and two to go.

Minion

William truly should have been born a Minion. He's crazy, rambunctious, and yet still has a smile that lets him get away with anything. The icing on the cake is how much he loves them. He loves to watch the movies, he has two Minions that he drags around and he even has two Minion blankets that he sleeps with every night. 

This morning he wanted to take a picture with his Minion. With those big eyes and happy smile, I couldn't say no. 

Valentine's dinner

When it was time, I pulled out dinner. Our traditional Heart Pizza from Papa Murphy's. The kids love it and its and easy dinner for me.

After dinner, they cleaned up and showered quickly so they could play with their new Lego's.

When it was time they cleaned up the Lego's and we all gathered in the front room to read a little bit from Harry Potter and then it was time for bed.

After the kids went to bed, Ben and I went into the T.V. room to watch a movie (Good Will Hunting) with some Valentines treats. It was the best way to finish off the holiday, a quiet movie without the kids. Not that they didn't try to disturb our movie. The boys were in and out of their room for a good hour after being laid down. Ben contributed it to the Mountain Dew they got to drink with dinner. We'll think twice before doing that again.

Valentine's party Gabbi

When Gabbi got home from school, she was too interested in changing into her pajama's to tell me what she did. I had to go through her school work and her planner to see what she did that day.

They too had lessons and activities that went along with Valentine's Day. They multiplied and divided hearts, they had a Valentine's history lesson, and an art painting project. 

At some point during the day they got to hand out their Valentines and even have a treat or two. She assured me that she only ate one, but she was a little short for how many kids were in her class, so I just smiled and said "yep." (In year's past she has come home with no treats because she ate them all at school. This year I told her she had to bring them all home except for one and that was only if her teacher said they could eat one).

After emptying her box we put together a book for her too.

Valentine's party Owen

After getting home from school and after he was done eating his lunch, we sat down and he told me about his day at school.

They first started off with a Valentines card. They each got to make a card for their parents. It was the bear love card. I loved it when Gabbi gave it to us and loved the one he made. He said he had a lot of fun coloring and putting it all together.

Then for math they were each given a handful of conversation hearts and they had to divided them into color groups. When they were done sorting them out they counted them and put them on a color graph. Once their graph was done they started doing math adding and subtracting different color groups.

After math they sat and listened to a Valentine story.

When they story was done, they finally got to decorate their mailboxes. They kids for the last few weeks have been talking about the postal service and now that they were done, their mailboxes because their Valentine boxes. They got to decorate them with heart stickers and cut outs. When they were done with the decorating they got to hand out their Valentines to their class.

When all was said and done it was time for gym. They got to have their own little Valentines Dance. It wasn't as big as the 6th graders, where they actually have to learn a dance, they just turned on the music and let the kids go to town. Owen said he had a blast doing the chicken dance.

After gym that was the last of their planned activities. Now all they had to do was pack up their Valentine's boxes and wait to go home.

When he was done telling me about his party he showed me all the Valentines he got during school and all the treats to go with them. After pulling them all out of the Valentine's mailbox, we made him a book so he could always remember who was in his class and what they gave him for Valentine's Day.

Valentine's lunch

With the holiday, despite it being an unnecessary holiday, I had some fun making the kid's lunches. I decided to do some Valentines Day fun. 

They got a red heart lunch. In it included and heart shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwich, red Doritos chips, red applesauce, wild cherry (Gabbi) and pink lemonade (boys) drink, and a mixed red berry fruit by the foot (Gabbi), heart chocolate (Owen), and a heart sucker (William) treat. I was just happy that they had a lot of fun with it and asked if I could make heart shaped sandwiches more often. Hey if they'll eat them better, I'm all for it.

Valentines

When the kids woke in the morning for school they were all excited to see what was laid out for them on the kitchen table. 

The kids were very happy to see that they each got some new Lego's. Gabbi got Friends puppy playground and photo shoot, Owen got two Star Wars racers, and William got a Duplo bus and plane; both of which could be built into something else.

They continued to survey what else they got and were ecstatic to see that they each had a Mountain Dew. They both looked at me and asked if it was really theirs. I smiled and said yes. To go with it, they also got some cookies and a small box of crunch chocolates.

Then the topping on the cake was their treat from Nana and Papa, chocolate hearts from Mrs. Cavanaughs'.

They were definitely spoiled, but that's the fun part, right.

On the other hand. Ben and I argue about the little gifts and I swear that we told each other it wasn't necessary, but low and behold like every holiday we of course got each other something. The only requirement was that it had to be cheap. No big purchases for an unnecessary holiday.

I made him a bouquet of sweets. Of course it had to have a Diet Coke. Then I threw in some of his favorite candy bars and some beef jerky to top it off.

Ben gave me a basket of car cleaning products. I have to admit that when I first saw it I was a little taken back. The first thought in my head was "great something else I need to clean, the van." The second thought in my head was "this is a lovely gift really intended for him and his new truck." I shrugged it off and went about my day. Then I got a text later from Ben apologizing that He wasn't able to give me the rest of my gift, that it would be late due to overtime and whatnot that has been thrown at him the last two weeks. He told me that the stuff was just a side thing, the actual gift was detailing the Van. I was then grateful for what he gave me because he knows that it drives me crazy to have a dirty van and with the ugliness of winter, it needs a good cleaning.

1st trip to the Dentist

I can't believe it, our baby is old enough to go to the Dentist. He had his 1st trip to the Dentist and surprisingly enough did a fantastic job. 

He walked in so excited to see what all the fuss was about when he came with his brother last time. He was even more excited when the Hygienist told him to hop on the chair and he did hop. It was so funny. He started at the end of the chair and knee hopped to the top. When he was finally to the top he turned over and laid on his back and waited to see what wonders would happen form sitting in the magic chair that took you for rides.

First he was given a pair of sunglasses. He thought that was the coolest thing. He put them on and had the biggest smile on his face.

Then it was time for the serious stuff. She asked him to open his mouth so they could count his teeth and he opened like a champ. I was a little worried because when we first got to the office Mom asked him if he was going to let them count and clean his teeth and with the most stern look he said "NO". Luckily there were no problems.

He sat like a big boy, didn't move, did exactly what he was asked. A giant relief off the shoulders. Best part, they didn't have any concerns and told him that they looked forward to seeing him next time.

He hopped down, got to choose a new tooth brush, and then he got to go and pick out a prize. At that point he was on cloud 9. They had so many different things to choose from, he ended up picking a popper.

Box Animal

Part 2: putting it all together

After two days of allowing the paint to dry, it was finally ready to put it all together and he couldn't wait. As soon as he got home from school we wanted to get started right away. Sadly for him he had a few things to finish first. Homework, cleaning the toy room, etc. He begged to finish his box pet, so I told him that he better hurry and finish his work so he can finish his box pet. Once he was done we headed into the office and I showed him what he needed to do to finish his urchin. He went at it like a trooper and finished it in no time.

He was really proud of his finished project and It didn't look half bad when he was done. He was so excited he wanted to bring it to school the next day. Sadly for him it's not due for another week and a half.

Box Animal

At parent teacher conference Owen learned of an art project, one that he was really excited about. It was time for box animals. 

For the next few days he contemplated what animal he wanted to do. He said shark, then remembered that Gabbi did that for her's. Then he said giant squid, then he changed it to sea urchin. I thought it was such a fun idea that I told him how we could put it all together and he started to rave about the urchin. He wanted to get started right away. I think it was because he got to paint with my paints. 

Part 1: painting, done. Next put it all together.

PTC Gabbi

After we were done with Owen's parent teacher conference we headed to Gabbi's classroom for her's.

When we got to the thrid grade hall, she showed me a few things that they had been working on. First she showed me the picture that was taken of her on the day of her book report.

Then she showed me the poem she had written about herself and the picture to go with it.

Once we were done checking out her artwork we went in the classroom to talk to her teacher. She seemed a little worried, but once her teacher said she was the top of her class. She had meet and surpassed the goals she set for herself from the last parent teacher conference and has truly soared. After going through all her work, she made a new goal for herself and off we went, but before we left she had to show me her name on the book challenge board as well.

PTC Owen

This time around for parent teacher conference the Kindergartners changed it up a bit. They sent home a letter last week describing what exactly was going to happen. They called it the walking report card. The only pit fall of this type of parent teacher conference was that all other kids were to be left home or left in the hall. I just crossed my fingers and hoped that Gabbi was up to the challenge of chasing William around and trying to keep him in the hall. 

When we walked into the kindergarten hall we saw a table for the kids. Luckily Gabbi had something to do with William to help her. they could color and were even allowed to go outside and play on the kindergarten playground.

When they were settled Owen and I walked into the classroom. We walked we headed to the beginning table that described how the whole experience was going to go. We were to visit each table and let the kids show us what they had learned so far. The had two number tables where they had to identify the numbers and they had to write the numbers up to 30. They had a word table where they had to identify the words and sounds in that word. This whole process what times as well. Then they had a letter recognition table as well. Then last but not least we visited the science table where they learned that they get to do a science project.

When we were done visiting all the tables we sat down and talked with his teacher. She told us all the things that Owen has done in class and how well he was doing. He was above on all of his goals and in the top of his class. He was so excited to hear that.

When we were done talking with his teacher he showed me some of the art work and what not that was hung around the room and the hall.  

Then last but not least he showed me the book challenge board. At the last parent teacher conference they challenged all the students to read 20 books by the end of the year. After reading a book they have to do a book talk to basically prove that they read the book. Along the way they get to celebrate their progress with a party, 5 books at a time. They've already had one party and the next one is next week. He couldn't for the party.