"Try Harder"

I'm not sure how many people actually read this blog anymore. Not that it really matters since Most of what I write here is for the purpose of remembering it later. And that should give you and idea of the type of journal writer I am.
Anyway, earlier this month we had parent teacher conference for the two older girls. We were very pleased to hear things like your daughter is doing great in class. She is very kind I everyone. And she's right where she should be or she's doing very well in this area and I'd like to advance her to a level higher to push her a little.
When we met with Abi's teacher she gave us a paper explaining to us that she had given it to the students to rate themselves in different areas. The choices were "Super" "Great" "Good" and "Try Harder" most of the areas she marked super, great, or good. There were only two areas in which she marked "try harder". Those two areas were math and getting along with others. Her teacher told us to maybe we could talk with her about the worksheet and find out why she would rate herself the way she did. And to let her know if there was anything she could do to help in those areas.
I was concerned that maybe she didn't feel like she had that many friends. Or something. She had told me one day that for recess she couldn't find anyone to play with so she walked around the playground by herself. So sad.
When we got home that evening as we were putting the girls to bed we talked a little bit about the meetings we had with their teachers and how pleased we were with how they were doing in school. And I brought out the paper and asked Abi about it. We went through each item. And she explained why she would rate herself that way. When we got to getting along with others she said something that blew me away. She told me "there's this boy in my class and when the teacher is talking sometimes he'll get up and crawl around on the floor or talk to others." And when I asked her what that had to do with her she said "I just think I could be a better example to him".
Talk about a proud parent moment. She is such a great example to others and such a sweet, kind, and caring girl. And she amazes me everyday. Love you Abigail!

We have a two year old!

Little Emalee turned 2 last month! I can't believe how fast the time has gone! She can be so sweet yet such a little stinker when she wants to be! We can't imagine life without her though!

Here's her 2 year stats

Height: 35.5 inches (90th percentile)

Weight: 28 lbs (70th percentile)

Head: 18.6 inches (50th percentile)

And now a little back story on getting those stats.........
I had no idea when we walked through the door at the doctors office what I was in for. Little did I know that the minute they picked up Emalee's chart and called us back that I was actually with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
As soon as we walked into the exam room and the nurse told me that she needed Emalee in just a dry diaper and then walked out Emalee turned into Mr. Hyde. As I was trying to take off her shirt she was sitting there screaming and holding it on her face. Then we walked out for her to be weighed still screaming she wouldn't sit on the scale or stand on the "big kid" scale. So to get her weight I ha to hold her and then be weighed on my own so they could subtract and get her weight. Then in order to measure her height I had to pin her down on the exam table so they could mark the top of her head and then her toes on the paper and measure that. And quite frankly I'm surprised at how fast the nurse got her head measurement because she wasn't having any of that either. Then she screamed throughout her exam. After which she got a shot. But as soon as we were back in the car and on our way home she was all smiles again. Welcome back Dr. Jekyll. Seriously! Oh how I LOVE this stage.
A few other things about her at this stage......
She has picked up biting. (But not a lot thankfully.)
She talks a ton!!!! (So stinkin cute!)
She loves to play with her sisters squinkies and Polly pockets. (much to their dismay sometimes)
She loves her cousins and friends and squeals with delight when she gets to play with them.
All in all I'd gladly suffer through the not so much fun stuff just to hear her giggle and see her smile.
She's such a cute little stinker!
We love you Emalee!!!!

Six year old Sillies

Sometimes I wonder what goes through the head of my six year old.............

Wednesday night (the 25th) I had scheduled to meet with Abi and Hannah's teachers at school for SEP's (parent teacher conference type thing). My appointment was at 6:30 for Abi and 6:40 for Hannah. And I had an HOA meeting at 7. Little did I know when I left the house how the next hour would go. I got to the school a couple minutes early. Josh had a meeting so I had them with me and a friend stayed and watched them after meeting with her daughter's teachers. At 6:45 Abi's teacher was still meeting with the parents from 6:20 (or so I assume). Luckily the people behind me had cancelled or something so she didn't have another appointment until 6:50. So since she was running a bit behind I decided to go down to Hannah's class and see how it was going there and if I could get in and then go back to Abi's teacher. But when I got there Hannah's teacher had not even called the 6:20 parents in yet! At this point I was becoming extremely frustrated and angry. So I went back to Abi's class and her teacher finished up and called me in at 6:50. She had nothing but good things to say and we finished up and I decided that meeting with Hannah's teacher was just NOT going to happen that night. So we left.

After dropping the girls off at home I rushed over to my meeting. When I returned home that evening I sent Hannah's teacher an email asking if there was another time I could meet with her since I didn't get to that evening.

Well I received an email back from her teacher last night. The first part of it was nice. Stating how Hannah was doing in school and how much she enjoyed having her in her class. And then I read the following paragraph and started laughing!

"I will mention, though, that right after we got back from Christmas break I noticed she seemed really sad, and she had mentioned a few things about missing her dad or something like that. More specifically, when the question of the day was "Did you have a good christmas break?" she was the only student who answered "no" and when writing a new years wish, she wrote "I wish for my dad to come home." I know it's not my business, and I haven't talked to her about it, so i don't know if she is being over dramatic about nothing, but I thought you'd like to know about this, and that she is expressing these feelings at school. Like i said, most of this happened a few weeks ago, not so much lately."

So this morning I talked a little with Hannah about it. And then I took a little trip to the school to explain to her teacher that her dad and I are not separated or anything of the sort. I'm not sure where it all came from. Her dad worked overtime for part of November and most of December but he was home for more of this Christmas break than he was in any years past. Silly girl. I'm sure Hannah just doesn't understand how it was all perceived. So I told her it's ok for her to miss daddy when he's at work or out of town but if she's having a problem or she's sad about something to come and talk to daddy or I. So funny! I have a feeling that I'm going to have to explain a lot of wild things over the years. :)

WOW!!!

It's really been a LONG TIME since I updated this! YIKES! Things have been SUPER busy and at times stressful around here.

Without going in to too much detail I guess I should give a quick recap of what's going on around here.

August:

-Josh's Brother DJ left on his mission to Mexico. We are so very proud of him and the choices that he has made and are enjoying seeing him learn and grow through letters.

-Another year of school started with Abigail in 2nd Grade and Hannah in Kindergarten. Both are doing very well and enjoying their teachers and classes.

-I hiked Timpanogos with a wonderful group of Friends. And when I say I hiked Timpanogos I mean to the top not just to the cave. It was a lot of fun and very trying at the same time. And I need to do it again to prove that I can do it WITH OUT getting hurt! :)

September:

- As a family for FHE we visited the 9/11 memorial or Healing Field in Sandy, UT. A very humbling experience. We felt a renewed sense of patriotism and learned more about those events and the people affected by them.

October:

-October was filled with Birthday Parties for good friends and lots of Halloween activities and events. The girls were able to dress up in their costumes several times and ended up with almost 18 lbs of candy! We had a lot of fun partying with friends and family and especially enjoyed being able to have Josh with us this year! For Halloween Abigail was a vampire and Hannah was a witch with Emalee dressed as Princess Leia. Josh even dressed up for work.

November:

Not a whole lot happened in November.

-I was pretty excited to NOT have to host Thanksgiving at our home this year. We've had it at our house for the past 3 years and I was very happy that Josh had the day off for the first time in 5 years. So we spent the day visiting with family at their homes. :) And the next day we packed up the kids and went to spend the weekend with my very good friend Kirsten and her family in Idaho. It was a relaxing and fun filled weekend.

December:

-Hannah celebrated her 6th birthday! And even better than that is that for the first time ever she was not sick on her birthday! We were able to have a friend birthday party for her the following week. She chose Rapunzel as the theme. Happy Birthday Hannah! We are very happy to have you as a part of our family and can't imagine life without you! We love you!

-My grandma celebrated her 90th birthday and we had a big family get together to celebrate with her. Happy Birthday Grandma! I love you so much!

-Christmas was split into a few different celebrations this year. My family and Josh's mom both had their "dinner" on Christmas Eve. On Christmas day we got to get up and go to church to celebrate Christ and his birth there. Then we came home and opened presents. After which we went to spend the rest of the day with Josh's dad. We had dinner there and then we were able to talk to DJ in Mexico for a little bit. We had a good Christmas and we are glad we have so much family whom we love to spend it with.

-The day before New Years Eve we woke up to a note on our van from the guy that lives across the street. He had backed into our van that morning on his way out to work. :(

-That same day I took Hannah and Abi and a couple of their friends to Heidi's spa up in Layton where they do Princess Parties (for Hannah's birthday). They all got mini face massages; hand and feet massage's and their toe nails painted. It was super fun!

-New Years Eve was spent up at Josh's Dad's house with his dad and Kris and Jennifer's family and his brother Michael from St. George. We had a lot of fun ringing in the new year and playing games with them.