Valentine's Day 2014

 Sami Heart-Attacked my Bathroom

 Ally's Valentine Box for school

 We had the Sister Missionaries for dinner with everything heart-shaped!

 I love my Visiting Teacher!  These are homemade!

 Showing off the New Hair Cut and super cute dress!

 I love it when the girls help decorate

 

A Thousand Words January 2014!

IT'S A NEW YEAR!

 

 the First Top Tooth is a goner!

 Trouble

 All Aboard the Fruit Train!

 Emmy's 1/2 Bitrthday

These two are too cute together

Mother's Log January 2014 (16-30)

Jan 19
Ally's school writing assignment entitled Home Sweet Home:
My Home... My Home is small.  It is fun.  I like my home.  My Home is great.
I like my home because... It is nisse (nice).  It has three bathrooms.  It keeps me safe.  It is on the monten (mountain).
I wish my home had... A bowssy (busy) house.  It was sparckaly (sparkly).  Was a kingbume (kingdom).
I'm glad my home has... Rooms.  My family.

Jan 20
Kassi sang in church today, holding hymnbook and everything. It wasn't on the correct page but she still sang out!  It's funny, she's my fourth kid to do it but it never gets old and for some reason always makes me cry.  Hmmmm...
Then the poor little girl threw up all over herself and her daddy and had to go home early. She has spent the majority of the rest of the day on my lap. Poor baby.

The kids drew pictures in primary showing ways they could help make their family and home more successful.  Emmy drew a picture of her and me. Then she shared with the whole room that it was a picture of me deciding to be nice to her on her birthday and not be cranky. Beforehand she said it was a picture of me helping her to not be scared. Just now she said it was a picture of me teaching her to be reverent. But in front of everyone, she announced that I was cranky on her birthday!  I don't remember ever being cranky on her birthday....  So Random!!

Sami and Ally were playing Monopoly when suddenly Ally got upset. It turned out that Sami tricked Ally by saying she would pay her $100 if Ally would allow Sami to purposely land on Free Parking. Ally agreed, not realizing that free parking contained over $700.  We made Sami put it back and told her to stop cheating.

Jan 22
It's been a great day!!!!  Last night, we had our first M.M.M. (Mom's Motivating Mom's) Meeting!  A friend of mine put it together and I'm so glad she did!  Yesterday was a very bad day and being able to escape my house and spend some time with friends and talk about how we're not alone in our frustrations and concerns-it was the breath of fresh air that I was desperately in need of.  I went to bed last night feeling motivated and woke this morning without an exhaustion headache for the first time in weeks (healthy kids slept all night, sick one's gave me six undisturbed hours!)!  I was able to actually read a Conference talk during snuggle time! Since we had no place to go, I got stuff done around the house!  I finished my laundry, cleaned up my main floor to the point where I could stop hyperventilating when I walked into each room, took a long, relaxing shower, received cookies from a darling friend,  and spent a good amount of quality time with each of my kids individually!  I'm starting to wonder if my life is too over-scheduled.  Maybe I should plan more time at home. But then again, my kids watched so much TV today!  I think what really made it such a great day was my attitude.  I had feverish kids and constant messes.  I looked totally unpresentable when my friend stopped by.  I had way more work than I could have possibly gotten done.  But I stayed positive and uplifted throughout the day. If only the M.M.M.'s could meet every week....

Jan 23
Ally and Emmy are the best of friends AND worst of enemies, and it's becoming more pronounced as they get older.  It's been a very good thing for them to have Ally gone at school during the day. With the holiday this week, though, and the fact that Ally has been sick since Sunday night, they have spent way too much time together. And it hasn't been overly constructive time together. With sick kids, we have been locked up in the house for over three days and the girls are getting cabin fever. This morning, they are at each others' throats!  Every time I turn around there is bickering and whining and fighting. Thank goodness Ally's fever broke last night (after being at 104.3 yesterday!) and I can send her to school tomorrow!  Now how to survive today.... A walk around the block may be in order.

Every table chair in the house has moved to the carpeted dining room for the time being. Kassi has figured out how to maneuver the chairs and climb on them in order to get into every cabinet in the kitchen. Nothing is safe!!

I just found Kassi putting Ally's slippers on.  She looked up at me and said, "I Go!"  Like I said, cabin fever.

Jan 27
Kassi's newest phrase (next to "I go" whenever she wants to go outside):  "I Stinky!". Yes, she hates being stinky. She will hide to do her business and then immediately come tell me she is stinky...every three seconds until I change her!  I have high hopes for when it comes time to potty train this one!!

Jan 30
Do you think Emmy will ever go a day without calling me a Mean Mom?  Or telling me that I am taking away from her bucket? (We talked about the "Bucket and the Dipper" theory in FHE recently)  Tonight I had to sit Emmy down and explain to her that being a Strict mom sometimes IS NOT the same as being mean. It actually means I am nice and loving. That is why I make her eat her food and brush her teeth and go to bed. That is why I say NO at times when she wants to do something that may not be healthy for her, or when she wants something she doesn't need. That is why I encourage her to keep herself and her environment clean. I don't think she really got it.

Mother's Log January 2014!!! (1-15)

Jan 1
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!  We had the best day today!  We slept in a little, took it easy for the morning, went out for breakfast, spent a couple hours at Scheels, came home, watched a movie, made dinner, and put kids to bed. No big plans. No set schedule. No stress of when to have meals done. Just us, taking a holiday. As much as I love having family around me during the holidays, it certainly isn't very relaxing. I am glad I got a day to take it easy before sending the kids back to school, Jeremy back to work, and me back to the routine of daily life.

Jan 2
I just put Kassi down for a nap and I feel as though my heart is going to explode, it is so full. I took Kassi to the doc this morning for her 18 month check up. She is doing fine. Not gaining an ounce of weight (just like her sisters when they started walking) and she was really a bear to the doctor. She would not leave my arms and did not want to be examined. We had to weigh her by weighing me and then both of us and doing the math. After the doc, we went to get her FIRST HAIRCUT!!!  She didn't cooperate for the lady at the salon either. I has to hold her and we had to put a sucker in each hand before she would even consider holding still!  But we got it done and..... She looks so much older!  I don't have a baby anymore. I have a toddler. She's getting so big.
After Emmy was on her way to preschool, we ate lunch, did a little 18 month photo shoot, and I chased her around the house playing "I'm gonna catch you, you better run" while she squeeled her head off. Then I sat down to do something and she found her empty milk bottle from this morning, brought it to me, and said, "MOMMY! BA  BA."  For me, she might as well have said, "Look at me Mom, I'm all grown up."
The best part, though, was just now, as I rocked her to sleep. She grabbed her blanket and sippy and curled up in my lap. I so badly wanted a picture of that darling little face:  her long lashes brushing her sweet cheeks underneath her newly cut bangs.  She had the most content and peaceful expression as she nuzzled into her blanket and my arm and drifted off.  I guess that moment was just meant for me to remind me that, in many ways, she is still my baby.

OK. The laundry is calling. 

Jan 6
I have been attempting to reorganize my closets and cupboards. It has been very slow going with all the free time I don't have these days, but I am working on it. Today, I decided to get rid of some of the food magazines we used to subscribe to back when Jeremy went through his first health kick. I decided to flip through and just remove the good recipes and recycle the magazines.  As I was tearing recipes out of the first magazine, Emmy came in and flipped out on me. "Mom, what are you doing??!!! You are not supposed to tear books!!!!!"  She had me. What could I say?  I had taught her that tearing books was a very bad thing and here I was tearing what looked like a book. I tried to explain the situation and that they were magazines I was throwing away. But it was no use. She was very upset and disappointed with me. Ultimately, I showed her that I recycled the magazine I tore and put the recipes away with my recipe book.... But it didn't help her distress much so I  didn't bother opening another one. I guess that will be a cupboard I clean out when Emmy is at preschool.

We went to Smiths today for a few things. They have little carts there that Emmy loves.  I usually let Emmy push her little cart and have Kassi ride in my big cart. However, I didn't grab a big cart today because all we needed could fit into Emmy's. That proved to be a mistake. Kassi was everywhere. She wanted to push the cart which didn't fly well with her sister. She wanted to pick the food which didn't fly well with me. She wanted to buy every hat and mitten set in the store when I didn't even want one. It turned what should have been a quick shopping trip into an exhausting 45 minutes. At the end, though, I finally convinced Emmy to pull the cart and allow Kassi to push it. It was so cute!! Kassi couldn't even see over the handle bar but she held on and pushed that cart all the way to the car. And with Emmy being the big sis, guiding her along, it was so precious. We got lots of sweet comments and smiles. We won't be repeating the experience again for a while, though.  I am worn out!

PS. Emmy also did not like that I put my "disgusting" avocados in her cart.  Silly girl. I am just using my own cart from now on.

Jan 10
Had to clean up a mess consisting of rice and sugar.  This was primarily blamed on Kassi but I think Em and Al played their parts...

Jan 11
Today marks twelve years since Jeremy and I started dating!  How crazy is that!?  Exactly twelve years ago, last Sunday, I met Jeremy at a "break the fast" dinner at BYU. Then Friday night (twelve years ago last night) we ran into each other again at a dance.  Sparks flew and we found ourselves holding hands and watching "The Others" with our roommates. He walked me home and kissed my cheek. Then tonight (12 years ago) we went on our first official date to The Malt Shop.  I have seen or spoken to him every single day since.  He's blessed me with purpose, compassion, patience, love, and four incredible daughters. Life without Jeremy would seem meaningless. With him, it's perfect.

Jan 13
Kassi in the car while I drove home: "Manna Manna," in her best, gravely, Daddy impersonation.

Emmy while saying family prayer tonight:  "Please, Pleeeease let me be 18 so I can do what I want."

Jan 14
Kassi has taken to emptying the Brita in the refrigerator, covering my shelves and floor in mini lakes. Why didn't I buy that fridge lock back when Emmy went through this stage??  There will be no more cold drinking water for a while....

18 Months!!!!

Kassi is 18 Months!!! 

Yes, we have hit the age of being able to go to Nursery and constant MESS MAKING!  Kassi is growing up soooo fast!  She's entered a really fun stage, though.  So many things that she does make us laugh or just sit in wonder at how she is maturing on us... 

 Kassi's Size

Even though she is still our heftiest child at this age, Kassi has plateaued at 19 pounds, due to her learning to walk. (it's just something our girls do.  they can't seem to gain weight once those legs get moving too quickly)  Her height is proportionate to her weight at 29 inches, dropping her to the 1st and 2nd percentiles.  (sigh)  Her head, though!  Her head has shot up to the upper percentiles!!  I kid you not.  It grew over an inch between 12 and 15 months placing it at 81% and then grew .2 inches in the next three months putting her at 18.7 inches and 76%.  What does this mean?  She's going to be really smart...?  Or is her hair really thick?  Maybe that adorable, expressive face just needed more room.  :)  Whatever it means, it is rather random and funny but true. 

 Kassi Milestones

Better LATE than Never, Kassi finally took her first step on her 15 months birthday!  Now she walks and runs and dances and spins and climbs and gets into everything!  She got her 13th tooth (top, right, canine) on the day after Thanksgiving and is working hard on numbers 14, 15, and 16.  She drinks out of a cup and feeds herself using silverware and is able to communicate what she wants and doesn't want.  She points and brings me things I need and throws things in the garbage and the laundry (sometimes throwing away things that she is not supposed to).  She washes her own hands (sometimes in the toilet, which I hate).  She gives kisses and hugs.  She pretends with baby dolls and telephones.  Kassi got her first haircut one week after turning 18 months.  This was six months earlier than any of her sisters but she doesn't like to leave her hair pulled back and she has so much of it that I finally broke down... and almost cried through the whole thing.  I think the bangs make her look soooo much older!

 Kassi Words

Kassi has given up babbling and got kind of quiet for about a month while she figured out what words actually meant.  She began talking gibberish and often carries on entire conversations with you in her own language.  But around 16 months, she started using words the way they are meant to be used.  Here are the ones she uses often and clearly:

THANK YOU!

MOMMY

DADA

BABY

BATH
THAT

YES
YEAH

NO

UH-UH
BYE-BYE

WELCOME

OWIE

BABA

 Kassi Routines

Kassi doesn't care for the high chair or booster seat anymore.  For Breakfast, she sits on the floor in front of the heater with her sisters.  For lunch, she sits wherever Emmy sits.  For Dinner, she sits on a big chair at the table like the rest of the family.

Every morning, Kassi wakes up, calls for her dad, grabs her binki and baba, and comes into my bed for snuggles while she drinks her milk.  Then she climbs off my bed, runs out of the room, and pulls Sami out of her bed.  Then she heads into Ally and Emmy's room to play until everyone starts going downstairs for breakfast.

At naptime, Kassi likes to snuggle and be rocked with her binki, blanket, sippy, and baby doll or stuffed toy of her choosing (right now she is favoring her baby doll from Santa, a Snow White doll from Uncle Adam, or a little white bunny Sami gave her as an infant).

At bedtime, we usually play 'catch me if you can,' while I chase her because as soon as I show up with the baba and binki, she takes off running.  She snuggles with her dad for a little bit, then waves goodnight to everyone.  We sit and read books with the blanket, doll/stuffy, baba of milk, and binki. Her favorite book is called "Time for Bed."  It talks about how it's time for bed and time to sleep for different animals.  At the end it shows a little child being tucked in by her mommy and then going to sleep.  "The stars on high are shining bright. Sweet dreams my darling.  Sleep well, Goodnight."  We end with the book every night.  She doesn't often let me control the pages, so I have the book memorized.  She knows that when I get to the deer, next is the child and it's time to flip to the end of the book.  When the book is over, it's time for bed.  We turn out the lights and I sing her three songs, "Goodnight My Kassi," "I Love to See the Temple," and "(You Are) a Child of God."  Then I rock her for a minute, sway with her by her crib for a few seconds, and put her to bed.  She snuggles in and goes to sleep.

At 2 am, she wakes up for usually about 5 minutes.  Every night.  We need to get rid of that... 

 Kassi the 'Kharacter'

This little girl is VERY affectionate.  She loves to give long snuggles--especially to her daddy and Sami.  She misses people when they leave and runs to them when they get back.  She does have a very jealous side, though, particularly toward Emmy.  If Emmy gets it, Kassi has to have it.  My favorite time is when the two of them play together.  Sadly, most of the time, this involves a big mess for me to clean up--quite often the mess is in the kitchen.  Kassi loves to empty drawers and cupboards.  Emmy and Ally like to push Kassi around in the baby doll stroller.  Sami likes to give her piggy back, shoulder, and horsey rides.  Kassi loves to sit on her sisters--often on their heads--and she laughs her head off when they're being silly.  She teases and sings and happy-screams and giggles at herself.  She's quick to throw a tantrum when she doesn't get her way but is also quick to smile big and cheer people up.  Kassi is super ticklish and gets a kick out of being tickled by her daddy.  Her daddy loves hear her squeals of laughter.

 

 WE LOVE THIS GIRL!

Mother's Log December 2013

Dec 5:
Went shopping today with Kassi. Tried to get through the outing  without the binkie in her mouth. She sang to me the whole time-in the cart and in the car!  I loved it!

Dec 8:
Had a great weekend with Stake Conference. Elder Holland came. I had the opportunity to sing in an octet of women--Beautiful Savior--and the Spirit was so strong after the first note that I couldn't be nervous!  Incredible experiences all weekend. Didn't get to meet him though.  :(

Dec 9:
Ward Christmas Party. Primary kids performed "Christmas Bells". I had the senior primary over to my home yesterday for a 'Sip N Sing' so we could practice with the bells and the descant while enjoying hot cocoa. My basement is now covered in chocolate. There is even chocolate streaked on the basement door. Crazy kids!  They all did great though. Especially the junior primary who sang "Jesus is born" a Capella at the end. I am such a proud chorister!

Oh got a new vacuum today from Jeremy as an early Christmas present!  It's a Dyson Ball. Love it!  Jeremy played with his new snow blower all weekend when we had a big storm come through. He had five men oogling over it. Silly boys. But now it's my turn to play with my new toy!  I have never been so excited to clean my home!!

Dec 10: 
It's official. I'm not getting enough sleep!  I had a repair guy come to fix my "broken" dryer today. Guess what was wrong with it. I hadn't selected a cycle!!  Yeah, I guess it helps to turn something ON if you want to use it. I spent all weekend flipping the start knob and wondering why it wasn't starting!  $58 later...I feel like an idiot

Sami and I spent an hour shoveling feet of snow off our deck. Whew! I want to move to someplace tropical.

Dec 13:
Sami found out today that her piano composition piece for Reflections made it to the Regionals!  Go Sami!!!

I noticed today that Kassi's obsession with playing the toilet seems to have passed. Thank goodness!!  However she still seems to have a talent for throwing things away. Here is my Facebook post from tonight:

(Facebook)

Dec 14
Found my phone. Kassi had buried it under stuff she pulled out of a drawer in the dining room on Thursday morning. So now I am sitting here wondering what she threw away at Sami's school. Hopefully it wasn't important.

Dec 15:
We had so much fun this evening!!  It started at dinner when Jeremy started trying to persuade everyone that bedtime needed to change to an hour earlier than it is. At one point Jeremy said, "7:00.  All in favor say 'aye'."  Sami called out, "Nay!" And Ally, thinking she meant 'neigh' called out, "QUACK!" I couldn't help myself!  I found this hilarious and started quacking whenever the girls would say 'Nay' to any other times. Soon we were all making random animal sounds around the table. We even threw in a sing-song of "What does the fox say?" That got us on other goofy songs like "We are never-ever-ever wearing ugly sweaters" (spin on Taylor Swift) and "You're gonna hear me Snore" (spin on Katie Perry). [OK it is possible that we watch too much Jimmy Fallon]. We were all laughing though Jeremy was still trying to feign seriousness over changing bedtime. As we finished eating, Jeremy commented that there hadn't been one moment of silence at the table since prayer. He decided we all needed to be quiet to the count of 10. So we all were silent and he started counting. He got to 3 or 4 and then Kassi sang "oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh" from the Katie Perry 'Roar' song.  It was sooooo funny!!!! I think that song has been on the radio in the car too much lately.  Then they also taught her to start a high pitched singing scream when anyone counted to five which I can just see coming back to bite us during Sacrament meeting or something...

After dinner we made a gingerbread Christmas Tree and got ready for bed.  Kassi danced naked to the Christmas music in the family room with crazy hair, while I tried to chase her with her pj's. Then we went upstairs for prayer. Kassi immediately went for the girls' bed. She likes to climb on it and pretend like she's a big girl going to bed. When she turned and saw us all kneeling to pray, though, she crawled to edge, squirmed to the floor, toddled to the middle of everyone, sat, folded her arms, and bowed her head...all the way to floor.  It was so stinking cute that we all started giggling again. I love it when my family gets goofy and everyone enjoys the cute and silly parts of everyone else. If only every night could be like tonight was!

Dec 20
We just went to see the Nutcracker for the first time!!  It was our Christmas present to Auntie because it was one of her favorite traditions when her boys were young. But it was such a treat for Sami and me!  I has never seen it before, either-or any ballet-- and we LOVED it!  Ally also came along. It was her first ballet and first time in a real theater!  She seemed to enjoy it at the beginning when the war with the mice was taking place, but lost interest during all the different dances of the second half.  I think we will have to make it an every-other-year tradition. That way Emmy can come next time and maybe Ally will get more out of it.

Dec 23
Emmy was darling tonight. After I sang her her song and she sang me mine, I tucked her in and she folded her hands under her head, closed her eyes, and fell asleep with a smile on her face. It was seriously a scene from the movies. I didn't know a child could actually fall asleep like that in real life. Leave it up to Emmy to surprise me. :)

Dec 25
Merry Christmas!!!!

It is strange but Christmas came so soon this year with Thanksgiving being so late. It almost feels like it's come and gone without actually being a reality.

What a good day, though.  Kassi was completely uninterested in her presents. Emmy was really animated. Ally played with everything the second Ashe opened it.  Sami just wanted to play Santa and be in charge of who opened what when.  The only crazy thing was when Sami was putting dishes away without a stool and so tried jumping up to the cupboard and took her head out with the corner of the cupboard door. This resulted in a call to Dr. (Uncle) Sam and a trip to Walgreens for butterfly bandaids to seal up a small split in her forehead. Hurray for people willing to work on Christmas!

We had a nice evening last night with Jeremy's aunt, uncle, and cousin. Then this morning, Grandpa and Grandma A came for brunch. That was a fun addition to our Christmas Day traditions. Then Adam and Naima flew in in time for Christmas Dinner. We love it when they visit!  My parents and Daniel show up on Friday. They are bringing Daniel's "friend" from Brazil. Her name is Geane (Gi-on-ee) and she has never been to the US and has only dreamed of visiting Temple Square so that is where we are headed on Saturday!

Dec 29
I just put my bathroom on the main floor on quarantine for the fourth time in two weeks!  It seems the second I get a chance to clean it, someone leaves the door open and Kassi is in there. It turns out that she was only taking a break from toilets for a while but the interest has come back full swing!  She has found it even more fun to put the garbage can in the toilet and splash around, making a lake of toilet water on my floor. Why!?????