November 2021

Wow was this a month for milestones!  Lucy is walking and Hinckley is riding a bike!

We'll start with our little lady, first.  Lucy was starting to take steps at the beginning of the month and we got all excited on November 9 when she took four steps in a row.  She did that on her own a couple more times but resisted all of our efforts to get her to walk in the weeks that followed. 

On November 22 I just got the feeling that it was the day.  I got her dressed after her nap and turned on my camera, just in case... and it worked out!  She walked the longest she ever had and she's been practicing, ever since.  Yay!

She wasn't content to just learn to walk this month, she got four more teeth.  It was frustrating at the beginning of the month because she was much fussier than usual and had been waking up in the night for a week or so.  She also had been chewing on food and spitting it out.  It finally made sense when I felt the teeth on top and the swollen gums on the bottom.  

Her feet are tiny.  She was still wearing size 2 shoes at the beginning of the month and has just moved on to size 3.  She imitates us in such cute ways- she will grab tissue and come up to me and "blow her nose" with a big grin on her face.  She grabs the boys' nerf guns and makes cute little explosion sounds. 

She has started to hate baths for some reason.  It's a shame because she loved them and still seems so excited when we start the bath, saying "BAA" with such animation.  Then, when we get her near the tub she cries and screams.  But she's good in the shower so that's how we get her clean, for now.

She loves soft, furry stuffed animals and creatures.  She wants to lay and snuggle on top of them and has tried to lay on Max but he won't let her get too close anymore.  

Listening to Lucy: 

• "Chee" (when we were taking her picture while hiking.)
• "Bah" (Ball)
• "Na!" (No)
• "Dit doo" (only one time in nursery- Dane and I were stunned and she hasn't done it since.)

Hinckley's silver balance bike went missing and we were sad about it for a day or two... but then he starting riding the big boy pedal bike that used to be Atticus's.  We weren't sad anymore.  In fact, we're pretty certain he would have waited months and months more if that bike hadn't been stolen.  We have already done a few bigger bike rides with him and plan to do many more.  

One other thing I wanted to remember about Hinckley was his favorite Bible story.  We have an illustrated Bible downstairs and almost every day I see him open it up to the story of Adam and Eve at the beginning.  

He loves it and asks us to read it all the time.  It's so sweet. 

Here he is at Joy School.  Apparently he made himself a mustache and then all of the kids asked to take pictures of their play dough mustaches.  He's quite the trendsetter.

Joy School friends at their Thanksgiving party.

Here he is with his cute team, the Otter Pops.  Hinckley had some games and practices where he was totally involved and many where he would sit most of the time, telling us, "I'll pway tomowwow."  Overall, he had fun and loved his coach.  He especially loves his trophy now and definitely wanted to sign up again.  

He has also started playing the piano for real.  He plays bits from "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and a couple of other things.  Atticus plays ten minutes a day but I haven't been as strict about requiring it of Hinckley.  I find that if I leave him alone about it he likes to start his piano practice on his own and will tell me to start his timer.  I don't start the timer but I tell him I have.  He plays for a few minutes, sometimes he asks me to join him and then he'll tell me, "Okay, my time's up!" and I'll agree with him that he's all done.

Hinckley speaks:

• "We were running after the moon!" (His explanation when he and a little two year old ran away while Atticus was at soccer practice.)
• "You lost my twust!  You have to eawn it back!" (Using Atticus's own words against him a few minutes later in a very clever way.)
• "This bike is a piece of junk!" (Just before kicking it.)
• "I love my pedal bike!" (Two days later.)
• "Mom, when am I going to find a beautiful guhl to mawwy?"
• "Mommy, can you wear your hair down?"

Atticus didn't hit any huge milestones this month but we did have some funny moments.  

We were doing a little FHE lesson with the boys and asked them to pack their suitcases with all the things they would want to take with them to Heaven.   They took this very seriously and came back down with full suitcases (well, Hinckley's just had a Batman toy in it at first but then when he saw how full Atticus's was he went over and grabbed random toys that we have downstairs and filled his up.)

Then we read from D&C about what we actually can take with us (the relationships we have, the knowledge and intelligence we gain and our marriages if we are sealed in the temple.)  When we spelled it out for them, "You can't take things with you," Atticus looked a little disgruntled and said, "Well, after we go to Heaven can we come back to earth and get our stuff?"

"No, I don't think it works that way."

"Well I'm not going to let God take my stuff away!" 

I tried to help him but just couldn't hold back the laughter.  He'll get there.

The other memory that had us laughing right then and there took place at night.  It was fairly late, maybe around 9:30 or so and Atticus came into our room out of nowhere.  It actually frightened me, ha ha.  We tried talking to him but he responded so strangely.  It quickly became obvious that he was sleepwalking so we stopped trying to talk with him and just watched him.  He walked into the bathroom and went straight to the shower and opened it up.  

"Do you need to go potty?" I asked him.

He gave me a little smile and nodded dreamily.  I led him to the toilet and while he went Dane and I laughed silently.  He came out and gave me the sweetest hug before we directed his shoulders to his room.  He walked in such a funny, floppy way.  We were in stitches all night. 

I can't leave out how amazing Atticus has gotten at soccer.  He practices for at least an hour a day with another little boy on our street and he plays so well!  He scored two goals in one game and helped an older team win their game.  They played against a team that was undefeated and he single-handedly kept them from scoring the entire game (it was only when the coach subbed him out that the team scored- Atticus was pretty angry about it.)  He loved it and is dealing with loss and mistakes better and better.  Hallelujah!

Atticusisms:

"I can't wait for the day when I can punch someone with all my might." (After which Hinckley added, 'I'll give dem a kachow!' "

"I can watch the kids so you can wear makeup more."  (Both boys gave me a hard time one night so I got all dressed up the next day.)

On November 21 we had a special stake meeting for a realignment of wards.  It ended up affecting us in a big way.  Nine wards were realigned so that only 8 remained.  In ice cream scoop was taken from our ward and we were in that scoop, placed with families from two other wards.  We were sad but, thankfully, not surprised (Dane had a friend at work who had gone over the maps with him and mentioned this possibility.)  

Above you can see some of the ladies from the ward at a RS activity just beforeo the realignment.  

I wrote the following on my previous ward's page as a goodbye:

A few of you may have seen me crying quite a bit on Sunday and it’s true. I’m very sad about the stake realignment. I love you ladies and will miss seeing you at church and activities so much!

I just have to say, though, how very grateful I am that I’m sad. I honestly couldn’t wait to leave my last ward. I felt completely forgotten and unknown. You sisters helped me feel so loved, needed and connected. You taught me, you helped mother my children, cried with us and rejoiced with us.

I was hoping to stay long enough to be able to “pay back” the many many acts of service we received once our kiddos were older. I guess I’ll just have to be content with paying it forward, instead.

I know we’ll still be seeing each other but I had to share my love and gratitude publicly one last time.

A day or two afterward a friend asked how I was doing and I told her I'd be fine, I just needed them to "put me to work."  She was laughing the next time she saw me because a couple days later I received a visit from our new bishop who asked me to accept a calling to be the Primary President (which means I'm in charge of all the children in the ward.)  I was stunned (I loved being in nursery and was hoping to stay a little longer!) but I knew better than to say no to a calling.  The Lord has always helped me.  He won't fail me now, unprepared and overwhelmed as I might feel.

Still, I've been playing catch up with just about everything ever since.  

We had Thanksgiving the day after I received the calling.  A couple days earlier I had invited a friend whose husband was out of town and it just so happens that she is the relatively new Primary President in our old ward.  It was so nice to be able to pick her brain!  And we are 

Here's our sweet girl on Thanksgiving Day.

Three days later we went to church for the first time with our ward and I got to meet a few of the Primary kids.  

The next day we went to Arizona and rode the Polar Express.  It was magical, even with the masks.  We were so glad we made the trip.  

Three days later we threw a huge birthday party for Atticus (it was a blast I'll tell you about next month), after which Atticus had committed to sell a product at a student Christmas fair.  It was a very fun week but oh, so busy.  Let's hope I get a minute to catch my breath this month!  Still, I sure do love December.  

While this is what school looks like sometimes we are still loving it.  I feel a closeness with my boys that I haven't before and love learning right alongside them.  This month we studied about the British Isles, Rocks and about the American Colonies in the 1700s.  

Our study of rocks took us to Red Rock Canyon.  It was an amazing day and Hinckley hiked the entire day.  We had a blast.

We made a mini Stonehenge, 

read The Wind in the Willows and The Sword in the Tree, made Illuminated letters, made Bubble and Squeak, Irish meat pies and watched The Sword in the Stone, Quest for Camelot, Robin Hood, The Court Jester among other fun things.  Here are a few journal pages we made.

A cranberry tarts recipe enjoyed by Benjamin Franklin.  It was really good!

    

Things are going to get even busier but how grateful I am that I get to spend my days with these three crazies. 

October 2021

What a busy month!  I am posting a week late because of all of the many (good and bad) things that took place this last October.

We went back to the pumpkin patch toward the beginning of the month.  This time we went with our Joy School friends.

The next week we hiked Cathedral Rock as a family on Monday (it was a little chilly but so fun!)

 Then we left for a two night stay at Lake Havasu with my sister and her family.  It was my first time going on a road trip with the three kiddos by myself.  It wasn't perfect (Lucy cried her fair share on the way there!) but it was so fun and helped me build my confidence.

The transported the London Bridge there and so we had fun checking it out.

The next week my mom and two brothers came to stay.  It was a short visit but so very sweet.  Gosh, I hope they all come again soon.

Mimi read and read to the boys and told them stories from her childhood.  They ate it up!  We were all laughing our heads off at her descriptions of the horses she had growing up.  (Mom is lucky to be alive, considering all the times she fell off!)

Unfortunately, Danny didn't feel well for most of the trip (a certain 6-year-old kicked him with a soccer ball and dislocated some of his RIBS! I still feel awful about it!) but we just loved having their company and David gave the boys a run for their money when it came to tickling and wrestling.

The day after our guests left Atticus came down with a stomach bug.  He was miserable all night long.  There was a lot of yelling, many prayers were offered and two priesthood blessings were received.  Deep questions were asked and comments made, such as, "Oh, why did I agree to come to this earth?!"  After 8 hours he was finally done.  When sweet Lucy woke up she, too, had throw up in her hair.  Sure enough, she also had the bug.  But after throwing up one more time and taking an early nap, she seemed okay.  Her appetite was diminished for the rest of the day but that was it.  No crying or fever or anything.  (I could be wrong but I attribute it to still nursing before bed.)

We didn't get a photo of Atticus because it was the middle of the night but here is our sweet, sick little Lucy.

Two days later Hinckley started feeling sick, too.  We were on our way home from a park and I begged him to hold a bag up to his face while we drove home.  He kept refusing all of the things I sent back to him ("Here!  You can throw up in this... or this...") and threw up all over the car seat.  I was so mad at him for the first half hour or so!  Poor little guy.

Luckily Dane came home and helped get everything cleaned up while I got Hinckley clean and comfortable.  He, too, was sick for a good 8 hours and I just felt so sorry for him.

That night, poor Dane came down with it, too.  It was a long, painful night for him.  

I felt pretty awful the next day for a few hours but then was able to recover quickly.  No throw up.  Not entirely sure why but I was very grateful!

Sadly, Hinckley wasn't able to go to his Joy School Halloween party, so we tried to do a few festive activities at home.  You can see by Hinckley's face that he still didn't feel very good.

Then we celebrated Hinckley's fourth birthday.  He asked for pumpkin pancakes for breakfast and spaghetti for dinner.  Man, did he have a great day!  

The next day we had a few friends over for a small Batman birthday party.  It was a blast!

The day after that was Halloween.  After going to church the kiddos changed their clothes so they could jump in a bouncy house we rented as a street.

They jumped for a few hours before we ate dinner (we've started a tradition of having a Halloween potluck).  The kiddos changed into their costumes and we went trick-or-treating.

Our family theme was The Mandalorian this year.  Hinckley went as Mando, Atticus was Bobba Fett, Lucy was Baby Yoda (we can call her Grogette, right?) and I was Kara Dune.  I had many other plans for my costume but the stomach bug took too much of my time that week!  Better luck next year.

Atticus took off with some of the neighbor kiddos while Hinckley changed into the new Spiderman costume he got for his birthday.   

Keeping track of three kids on such a crazy day with Dane out of town was exhausting!  When we got back from trick-or-treating the boys took off their costumes and jumped for a little while longer.  Then it was straight to bed for all of us.  

Whew, what a month!

Here are some updates for each kiddo.

Lucy still isn't walking but she uses everything she possibly can as a walker.  Her main priority is climbing and doing anything she sees her parents or brothers doing.  She REALLY loves brushing her teeth and will climb our stool to the counter and grab and use her brothers' toothbrushes if they aren't put away properly.

She took two steps on Hinckley's birthday then promptly sat down.  When we asked her to do it again she stood up and just started dancing in celebration.  I think she's waiting so she can run.  Whenever she is out on the street with her walker she just runs all over.  She did that as Baby Yoda at our church trunk-r-treat and it was adorable.

I wanted to get a cute sibling picture of her this day but she wasn't having it.  

She loves her dolls and stuffed animals now and will hug them tight, especially when she first wakes up.  She loves to snuggle and sleep with her stuffed unicorn most of all.

She loves books and even says it in her cute little way "Buh" (not to be confused with "Baaa" for "bath.")  Right now her favorite is the 100 first words book but she likes to look at any of them now.  

She is experimenting with sounds and will often say "Gahmm" or "Yahmm."   She definitely tries to say "All done" now while shaking her hands, though it usually comes out as "Da duh."  When we read books and see words with the sound "s" or "sh" (strawberry or fish) she will copy the "s" sound.  

I love how she smacks her lips when she's hungry and she's starting to practice real kisses at night time (although when we get close to her she usually still bites us or sucks on our faces.)

She is a little too fearless when it comes to heights and parks.  We were at the park thte other day and she just shot down the slide, head first.  Another mom was there and caught her, thank goodness! She still loves slides of all kinds and will go up and down again and again until someone stops her. 

She got her 6th tooth on Oct. 9 and her 7th a week later.  Then we found her 8th tooth at the end of the month (a jumble with all the vomit and celebrations!)  She's been a busy little beaver!  So now she has the cutest, toothiest little grin.  

The last is less of an update and more of a story but it does all begin with Lucy.

One day I was in the kitchen and I heard Lucy scream from the room right next to it.  When I glanced over I could see her legs and feet pointed straight up in the air- she had fallen, headfirst, right into our little ottoman stool!  I scooped her out and tried to comfort her without laughing (it was a hilarious sight!)  It wasn't long after that that I started panicking about her and toilets.  

In order to explain where this story led I have to back up a little with another little anecdote:

The Mystery Poop

Earlier in the month I had walked into the bathroom near the boys and found poop on the floor right in front of the toilet.  It just didn't make sense.  Was it dog poop?  No, there hadn't been a chance for the dog to have done it.  But Hinckley had been so good for so long!  How could he let this happen? 

At first I was angry but kept thinking that something didn't add up.  So I went outside and found Hinckley.  Rather than yell at him like I wanted to I just told him I needed him to come with me and see something.  We went up to the bathroom and I asked him to explain what I was looking at.  He told me he didn't want to poop on the toy.  

"On the toilet?"  I asked him.

"No, the TOY!" he said.  

Sure enough, when I opened the toilet there was a toy (one of Hinckley's) in the toilet.  I knew instantly what had happened.  He had probably held it until the last minute and then when he saw the toy didn't know what to do... and couldn't hold it anymore.  

He then told me he hadn't said anything because he thought we'd be mad.  We cleaned it up together and it ended up being a good conversation.  More importantly, I was so grateful that something had stopped me from overreacting.  

Well, Lucy had been putting toys in the toilets at any opportunity and after watching her feet go up in the stool I felt like it was imperative that we get toilet locks to prevent the same thing happening in a toilet.

I ordered the locks and they came in just a day or two.  My timing, however, was unfortunate.  It was just when our guests had arrived.  Not sharing any of this information with them and only planning on trying out the lid locks, I tested one on the toiled upstairs.  UNfortunately, I left it on for the night and it caused havock for all three of the people who would try to use that bathroom that night.  

Danny gave up soon after trying it and went downstairs.  David said he turned on the light and figured out how to open it after a minute or two.  Poor Atticus was still half asleep when I heard him yelling about it.  I came running thinking it was Lucy and was able to open the lid for him.  

I'm not sure if it's as funny now in my description but the next morning as everyone shared their stories we had a good laugh over my overzealous safety precautions!

Hinckley's artwork continues to improve.  He colored this picture below with markers all by himself  I was amazed at how well he stayed in the lines!  He is working on his perfectionism and I can often hear him say, "It doesn't have to be puhfect" under his breath while he works.

He has some fun artwork, too.  Below is Batman dancing with Princess Leia and he has another one that looks similar only the other character has some green on him and it's Batman punching the Joker.

He still loves Princess Leia and loves to have us reenact knocking on Princess Leia's door (he is a superhero of some kind) and having her amazed at him, asking him to remove his mask and tell her his secret identity. 

He asked for my help to make a card for Bobba and this was our finished product.  I loved working on it with him.  It just seemed perfect for the relationship he has with his grandpa.

Oh, this boy.  We love him so much even though he can be SO hard.  He can sense what you want (especially if you're in a hurry) and he will slow down or find a reason that his shoes or something aren't quite right and take as much time as possible to make you fix it.  

But he's so darn cute.  When we were at Lake Havasu there was live music at the restaurant where we were eating.  We were having a great time listening to the music when the performer asked if anyone wanted to sing with him.  Hinckley bravely said, "I will!"  He went up and sat by the singer.  At first he was brave but after a couple minutes his nervous grin turned into a frown and he said he wanted to get down.  Still, I thought it was pretty gutsy of a little three-year-old.

Speaking of guts, he was the very first speaker in his very first primary program this year!  He got up and did a great job, "Heavenly Father knows I'm Hinckley.  When I was in Heaven with Jesus, he knowded me.''  (Taken from his own words.)

The last thing I'll share about Hinckley happened in church with his teachers, "Bwudduh and Sistuh Wobbins."  He had worn his Batman shoes to church and when they asked him if they made him run faster he wanted to show them.  The poor little guy ran so fast and carefree that he ran into the wall and got a goose egg on his forehead!  I'm not even sure if he cried!  

I feel like I want to write down everything he says right now but here is what I caught this month.

Hinckley speaks:

• "Look, Dad!  I got a Batman shirt, Batman shorts, Batman pockets..."
• "Ask me how I got so smart." ("Okay, how did you get so smart?")  "I work out."
• (While playing pretend as a superhero) "Then you saw my tummy muscles..."
• "Mommy, I'm an expert.  That's why I know m letters." (As he scribbles in his notebook.)
• "The buhfday boy likes tickles on his feet."
• "I can wead these now because I'm four!" ("Read" or repeated the words for a few books befroe bed time.)
• "You can't tickly me on my back now because I'm four."  ("Where can I tickle you?")  "You can tickle me here" (on his tummy.)
• "You did that on purpose!"  (Every time he gets hurt someone did it on purpose...)
• "My flash feet are turned on."
• "I want to go to Messi's house.  I want to go to Argentina."
• "I don't have a cwush on Ewwie anymore.  I hae a cwush on Zuwi." (After telling Zuri about this and being told she didn't want to marry him he came back to me.)  "Who am I going to mawwy, Mom?"

Atticus has been playing soccer for a couple hours almost every day this month.  His little friend, Greyson, can't get enough and the two of them have improved by leaps and bounds.  He still gets frustrated (especially whenever I play with them) but we are so proud of how hard he has worked.  It shows in the games and he has scored twice since our last blog post.

As you can see, his handwriting is really coming along.  I loved how he sounded these words out at church.

He had a tough experience about midway through the month.  One day at dinnertime he started being disrespectful to me.  I took him to another room to talk to him and he stonewalled me- refused to talk.  I knew he had been in a hurry to eat so he could go back out and play with his friends but he seemed to have forgotten in his desire to ignore me.  We all finished our food while he sat in the room.  I kept going in to check on him and he kept ignoring me, burying himself in the covers.  Meanwhile, Hinckley finished his food, played with friends outside, we brought him in and he even got to read a book.  

Finally, I went to Atticus and told him it was time to get ready for bed.  He just startet sobbing.  I felt so bad for him but it was also very interesting.  We had been studyng Thomas Marsh at the time for our Come Follow Me study, who left the church for a very long time finally he came back but what a lot of wasted time he had.  The person he had hurt most was himself.  In the same way that Atticus had been trying to hurt me and ended up hurting himself, we all can fall victim to our own pride- hurting ourselves.

The last update is one I'm still in disbelief over.  Atticus has a friend who is a girl that he just loves to play with.  He is very adamant that she is not his girlfriend (and has fought a neighbor or two over it!) but it is clear that he admires her and she definitely likes him.  She even tried to snuggle with him on the couch once while they were watching a movie.  Thankfully, Atticus didn't have a clue.  Please, can he just not have a clue for twelve more years?...

Atticusisms:

• "I'm going to be a daddy but with no mommy."  ("How are you going to do that?")  "I don't know but I'm going to figure it out!"
• "You took care of us so now we can take care of you." (While Dane and I weren't feeling good.  He went up to Dane a couple times to run errands or ask what he needed.)
• "People go to the temple to baptize for the dead, get married and to write on the prayer rolls.  It's quiet and very, very holy."  (His primary program part, taken from his own words.)

Last are highlights from homeschool.

The first week we studied Colonial America in the 1600s.  We ate ribs (in lieu of salted pork), beans and Indian Pudding (I really liked it!) and made quills and wrote with homemade ink.

One week we studied Oceans and lakes so we had salmon that weekend and made boats.  This time they had keels and a string so they were way more fun.  We read Peter Pan and toward the beginning of the month, too.  Oh, how we loved it!

We studied the Netherlands and read Hans Brinker (there is a fun Disney adaptation that we watched.)  Atticus and I tried pickled herring and the split pea soup that is a traditional dish in their area.  The boys also made some pretty fun wind mills.

Our last week we studied Spain and with all of our sickness and Halloween celebrations there was less to photograph but we still enjoyed learning a little about Don Quixote and reading about Ferdinand the friendly bull.

Nature Study photos:

Ah, rain.  You have to take pictures when it rains here.  It happens so seldom!

All right, November.  It's been a week now.  Show us what you've got in these next three weeks.