My little boy started kindergarten today. Am I really old enough to have a child in school?! He was so ready to go. I don't think I could have held him back another second. This year he has Carolyn Michaelis, who is a fabulous teacher. She has been teaching kindergarten for a LONG time. He is in the afternoon class with most of his friends in the neighborhood. Everyday he walks to school with his best friend Chloe and then home (I love living 1/4 mile from the school!) He is so smart and I know that he will do great! Here's to the next 13 years in public education!...
Isn't he talented? How many people can seriously do this?
Gracie is two months old! Wow it has gone by so fast! She has already changed so much but she is still my little girl and probably will be for quite a while.
We visited the Dr. and got a few shots. He says she looks great and likes that she is progressing on the charts even if it is only a percentage point with each visit. Here are her stats:
Weight: 9 lbs 1 oz. (9%)
Length 21 in (6%)
Head 14.7 in (14%)
She is just a little thing but I kind of like it that way as long as she is healthy. I love that I can still cradle her in my arms and it hardly feels like I am holding anything.
Here are a few things about her at 2 months:
- Smiled for the first time (for real) on the 15th of August
- Still does not like a binki- of any kind- we've tried (now we are thinking we kind of like that she doesn't take it, one less thing to bring along and have to put back in over and over)
- Found her fists and her thumb. Only sucked on the thumb a handful of times. I don't think it's a habit yet.
- She doesn't cry much and when she does you know she is tired or hungry and calms down when she gets what she wants
- Often wakes up from her naps around 35-40 minutes. She cries for a few minutes and usually goes back to sleep.
- Usually eats around every 2 1/2-3 hours although in the last month she has gone through a few growth spurts where she wanted to eat every 2 hours.
- Wakes up once in the night around 2:30-3:00 AM
- Only nurses for about 10 minutes and then she is done. This girl definitely doesn't like to suck just for fun.
- Likes sleeping on the right side of her head, it's getting a bit flat so we are trying to prop her to the other side.
- Starting to swat at toys that hang
- Making more noises. Likes to "coo" at us and looks like she is trying so hard to say something.
- Loves to watch ceiling fans. As soon as I turn one on she gets a huge smile on her face.
- Still has all of her dark hair and it is getting long on the top. We have to curl it so it's not out of control. She still has a receding hairline but the headbands cover it nicely :)
- Her eyes are starting to turn a pretty blue.
- Likes getting her hair washed in the tub and combed afterwards (natural girl)
- Still wearing most newborn clothing. Although some of the 0-3 are actually starting to fit!
Overall she is a very mellow and sweet little girl with little attitude. We'll see if that carries over to her teenage years. We all love her to pieces, especially the boys, they can't get enough of her!
Here is a little video so you can see her at 2 months:
The Friday before school started I had a baby shower in Sandy for one of my roommates from USU so we decided to make it a family affair and stop at the Hill Aerospace Museum on the way down. Every time we drive down south we pass this museum and I have always wanted to take the boys. You can see the huge planes from the freeway and I knew Haken would love it. He has been really into building planes with his legos lately. It did not disappoint. If you have never been there and have boys that like planes, you should go! It is free and has so much to look at. We didn't even get to it all. They have multiple buildings full of old planes and then a bunch of huge ones outside as well. I think Jack got a little bored, but he was also a little tired since it was nap time. Gracie just slept pretty much the whole time in the stroller. Fun family outing!
One of the huge planes outside. Fun little picnic area too.
If you've never been to the Box Elder County Fair you probably don't know what a BIG deal it is around here. It is the thing that EVERYONE looks forward to around here. I guess it is because we live in a rural community. Growing up I didn't even know that Davis County had a fair! Almost every kid around here has something they are putting in the fair whether it is an animal, a cake, a dress, a lego sculpture, a painting, you name it, it goes in the fair. I love going to see all of the exhibits and the creativity that goes into it. The fair is a whole week event and marks the last week of summer. In Box Elder school district they actually hold off starting school until it is over. It is THAT big of a deal.
We have really come to love it and enjoy being part of the community (even if we do kind of feel out of place without our cowboy boots and wranglers.) This year Haken and Shad entered paintings into the fair. Shad has entered a painting every year since we have lived here and every year he gets the "Judge's choice" award in the Semi-professional category. This year he decided he wanted to put his painting into the Professional category (since he has sold a few paintings this year) and see what happens. Well, he ended up with 1st place in the Professional category, which isn't as good as Judge's choice or the Sweepstakes award but I think it is still great. He complains that it wasn't that big of a deal because it was only out of 2 paintings in his category since the others got judges choice and sweepstakes. Although, the guy in charge said that if he was the judge he would have picked his instead for the sweepstakes. Haken got a participation ribbon, but I think he should have placed. His little acrylic painting was pretty good for his age. I don't think he knows the difference though, a ribbon is a ribbon to a 5-yr-old.
Shad's painting of the Brigham temple and tabernacle
Haken's painting titled "powerline"
He copied this painting and I thought he did a pretty good job for a 5-yr-old and the limited acrylic paints he had available to him.
On Wednesday night we go to the parade that goes down Tremont street. It isn't a huge parade (and Shad isn't a huge fan), it mainly consisting of lots of tractors, emergency vehicles, high school bands, horses, and advertisements for every place around here. However, people line the streets with chairs and blankets 3 days in advance to make sure that they can get a place. We prefer just to walk there 10 minutes before and always find a front row seat anyway. This year Haken was freaked out about the noise. I think he had his ears covered the whole time. Not sure what his deal is with that lately. There was a semi truck driver that I wanted to kill though. He was stopped right in front of us for a while and kept honking his super loud train-like horn over and over. It was so loud that he had all three of our kids screaming and crying at one point. Really bugged about that one. I think Haken put up with the noise because he got TONS and TONS of candy. That is all the kids really care about anyway right? We like the parade to refill our candy reward jar every year. I think the candy from last year was getting pretty hard.
This is how we get him to smile lately...
Then sometime during the week we head to the fair to check out the animals and exhibits, eat some food, and ride the rides (if Grandma is with us). I think Haken really liked seeing all of the animals and exhibits this year. He made sure we didn't miss anything.
Standing by the cows.
My sweetheart Jack
This was Jack's reaction to the sheep sticking it's head through
the bars and talking to him. He wasn't a fan of sheep at all.
He is even cute when he is terrified. Love him!
However, Haken liked the sheep.
Petting the bunny
Jack and aunt Jenni This time Grandma came with us so the boys got to go on rides. This was the boy's favorite part, but you wouldn't know it from some of the pictures. Jack cried when he had to get off a ride. Not sure why they have creeped out faces as they ride the rides. The night we went was perfect! Because it was a Thursday night, there was hardly anyone there waiting in line. The boys got extra long rides because no one was there.
Riding the train. Can you tell how excited they are?!
Jack rode this one all by himself because
Haken wanted to go on something else.
We met while attending Utah State University in Logan, Utah and were married in August 2005. We moved to Central Illinois from Northern Utah in 2015 and we have loved the change even though we are away from our families. Shad is a religious educator for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and enjoys every day. I currently stay at home with my 7 kids and I love the sweet moments and even the chaos that sometimes comes with it. We have learned to roll with the punches with our big family. The greatest evidence of this is when we were going for "just one more" and ended up with two! That's pretty much become the story of our life.
Haken
Our intellectual 13-yr-old. He loves to be involved in every adult conversation and activity and he should be with how much responsibility he takes on in our household. He is a model student at school and has become a fantastic writer. He has a serious sweet tooth but hasn't had a single cavity. His new passion is road biking and loves to see how far and fast he can go. He has been a perfect first child. We have been spoiled with such a good young man who wants to please us in everything he does.
Jack
Exactly 3 1/2 years younger than his older brother, but you wouldn't know it by the way he plays with him. He was definitely worth waiting for, and brings so much joy into our family. In December 2013, just 3 days after his third birthday, he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes but this hasn't stopped him from being the happiest kid you will ever meet. Checking his blood sugar and counting every carb before he eats hasn't slowed him down much. He recently switched to an insulin pump and it has been life changing. He has a contagious smile and rarely has a negative attitude. He is our "super Jack-Jack" and has become my little hero.
Gracie
Don't let this little girl fool you, she has more spunk in her body than most kids her size. She is our tiny little girl with loads of personality. She is a goof, just like her brothers. We have loved having a girl after two boys and she has really thrown us for a loop with her all-girl dramatic attitude. She loves everything fashion, sparkly, and pretty. At 6 yrs old she has an opinion about everything that goes on her. Her room is always spotless, there is a place for everything, and you better not mess it up. I'm sure we will be in big trouble when she grows up.
Benny
"Our little minion." He has a smile that will melt your heart and loves to cuddle. He is my master sleeper and is content doing things on his own. He loves anything on wheels and copies everything his big brother's do. He recently started preschool and has made huge strides in talking but we still often find ourselves playing "Benny Mad Libs" as a family trying to figure out what he is saying. This doesn't prevent him from getting his point across as he is a very determined child with lots of great ideas.
Ruby
Witty, smart, and sneaky. This girl rules the roost around here. She loves to sing songs and has a beautiful singing voice. She knows every word to every frozen song and belts them out. Her curly hair is a blessing and a curse as she hates having it brushed out but loves the curls. Already learning to read she is ready to start kindergarten next year and can't wait, especially since that means she will be with friends all day. She is a social butterfly and can't want to emerge from her cocoon.
Chapman and Tennyson
After trying for "just one more" we ended up with two! Having twins has its challenges, especially with 5 other kids to take care of, but we wouldn't have it any other way. It's like these two have always been here. Everyone adores them and can't remember what it was like before they came into our family. So different from eachother that they hardly seem like twins. We love these boys more than we ever thought we could.
