Love, Us

Casey: We've been able to have more time with Daddy these past couple of weeks and are enjoying it until he's sucked into track season. The kids love time with him and I'm grateful for his presence. Since he wasn't going to State he got to go to a teachers conference this past weekend over in Idaho Falls. He came home inspired to bulk up his curriculum and is looking forward to utilizing what he learned. 

Marianne: I finally got around to making Casey his new blanket. It was huge and so cumbersome to deal with and sew, (and my body is still aching) but I'm fine and hopefully it'll last longer than the last one. Major props to my mom, mom in law, Grandma Mac, and Casey's aunties who quilt and make blankets. So much work! I also finally stole a bit of time and got a hair cut. 6 + inches off. I'm not in love, but I'll get used to it. I'm still nursing Alice a bit. While I'm so ready to be done I know I'm giving Alice extra immunities through sick season and I've learned my body has to ease into ending and I can't just stop nursing abruptly. 

Kendal:  Kendal's afternoons are always full. She has homework, piano practice, spelling, reading, chores. Some days she'll manage her time well and gets all done and gets to go play, other days she's slower getting her "to do's" done and they take till dinner time.  She likes to talk about her day and it always includes her buddies Brook and Medow. I'm so glad she's meet these sweet girls and had so much fun with them and her other buddies at school. She likes to go to waking club twice a week during lunch at school also. She's walked over twenty five miles this year! She got to go to Cousin David's Olympic birthday party Saturday. They played games and she came home with a couple of second place, a third place, and a first place medal. Poor girl caught a bug over the weekend and spent Sunday night in and out of the bathroom and Monday on the couch. She's doing better now and got to go to achievement days Tuesday which she loves (even though she doesn't understand what they are). 

Peter: While Peter still gets up early he's also decided lately to wear his PJ's as long as possible every morning. He's watches Ready Jet Go (a pbs cartoon about space) most mornings while I shower and eat. He divides the rest of his morning playing, creating, doing homework, chores, and bugging little sister before I scoot him off to school. Since he gets his work done before school he happily goes off to play most afternoons, some days though he's around and can be in the mood to pester his sisters. He's doing so well reading with me lately. While Kendal was at David's party Peter went out with me. We picked out a new Lego to build and he got a happy meal to enjoy! Peter also caught a bit of the bug and spent Monday laying around and even taking a rare nap. He also stayed home today because his stomach was giving him grief. I Love his imagination also as you can see with his pirate and ninja pictures below. 

Alice:  Alice has decided waking is the best and she's just taken off this past couple of weeks. She's waking about 90% if the time. She also has this thing where she either has to be holding multiple things or wearing extra things as she walks around. She'll go into my room undo bags and nightstands, and come out with pencils or goodies from daddy's night stand. She also loves to drape things around her neck. Mostly she likes to wear Pete's belt like a scarf, but she also loves her necklace or random clothing draped around her. I love her little chatter and girly talk these days. She likes to wave to the bus drivers and cars at the bus stop. She also is likes to lounge around with mom and dad when the other two go to bed. 

We watched Rhett and Arias kids a couple of times in the past week. The kids had a blast, but we'll just say Casey wasn't meant to have seven kids or a load of girls around. 

I heart attacked the kids and Casey for Valentine's. They got some flannel sheets and goodies from us and sweet books from my parents. Casey picked us up some pizza and we enjoyed the evening together. 

We've had the Olympics on quite a bit this past week and even did a picnic on the floor a couple of Sunday's ago to watch the Olympics. Kendal says she loves it all and Peter likes anything with jumps.

Like I said Presidents day the kids were sick so it was a very lazy day. Both kids took naps and Casey played the Wii with them.

You win some, you lose some.

Since Alice sleeps and naps in the room with our computer it's a bit harder to update the blog; and when she's not sleeping she's up and about so I can't write at will. Nevertheless I'm doing my best and when I can get pictures on the lame computer then I can take forever to write and edit this later on my tablet. My family is my life and I want to hold onto these memories and happenings forever. So while it may be harder to post and my posts are irregular, continue they will. I'll take a win (getting a post done) any off chance I get.

This picture reminds me of my childhood. This was a first having all the kids together. Kendal and Peter normally shower, but occasionally they beg for bath time. Alice was due for a wash as well so I put her in for a few minutes. 

Finding some funny on a long winters day. 

My sweet little dwarfs, Stubborn and Dribbles. 

The kids had parent teacher conferences last week. Kendal's teacher had nothing but praises for her work, behavior, and sweet personality. She is doing so well in school and is having a wonderful year. She's on track to earn extra reading goals and does well in her school work. Peter got praises from his teacher as well. He's doing great in his subjects and in class. He does good on his work. He's kind and friendly to everyone. Her only minus was that he doesn't stay on task all the time. We're proud of these two, their hard work, and their wonderful kindness they show others.
They had mustache day at school last week. Peter was excited to wear a mustache to school. So many names could accompany this little man in his mustache - Mad Scientist, Evil Genius, Arch villain, or Heart breaker. The kids also celebrated their 100th day of school this week. Kendal got to dress up as a 100 yr old lady and Peter gets to take a bulging bag of m&ms to count to 100 in class.

 

Alice is taking more steps everyday. She's gaining confidence and is purposefully waking, however she's still wobbly and isn't full on waking yet. It's fun to see her try and just get up and go. I'm in no rush to have her waking all over, and she knows crawling gets her everywhere quickly so she's happy taking her time. Alice cut her top right tooth last week and her second top tooth is making its way down. Teething is tough on this little lady, but she's getting through. She loves to bob and bounce to music lately and she babbles all the time. She likes seeing the buses everyday. She waves to the bus drivers and gets very excited when she spots brother and sister getting off. Below is her birthday present from Casey and I. After a failed delivery of our original gift Alice and I wandered the toy isle till we found this pup that talks, teaches, and sings songs to her.

 

We took advantage of having school off last Friday and I took the kids to Logan. Poor grandpa had a rough weekend and wasn't able to enjoy play time with the kids. We took dinner out to Nana's Thursday evening. Friday morning Katherine came home. The kids played around the house. The kids and I picked up Nana from her hair appointment and got to spend the afternoon at her house. The kids pulled out their favorite vintage toys while Mom, Katherine, and I put away remaining Christmas. I love spending quality time at my Grandma's and seeing the kids making memories with her.
Saturday morning we went to the kids workshop at home depot. The kids painted and made a bean bag toss game. Afterwards we took the kids to Wendy's to eat lunch. We played away the afternoon at my parents. Later we were able to go out to David and Anica's and meet baby Isaac!! He is so sweet and perfect. I loved getting meet and snuggle him. We came home late that evening. It was a short visit, but good.

The Varsity girls Basketball team was set to win district, however they lost early on and their shot at state was cut short. I won't lie that I'm not disappointed that Casey is done two weeks early. It's nice to see him before he's sucked into track next month. We've all had a variation of colds this week. It's no fun, but we feel lucky it's not worse. At least the weather is mild and the kids can get out and enjoy being outside. You win some you loose some.