January 2023

January has flown by.  We started the month off with a belated Christmas visit in Utah.  The trip up was pretty memorable.  

About an hour into our trip we discovered that one of our tires was losing air.  While we felt very blessed that it was a slow leak, I couldn't help worrying about spending hours at a tire repair shop with all of our kids AND the dog.  We were able to pull into a Big O Tire store in St. George and we felt a bit ridiculous as we walked in with the entire family.  

Fortunately, the children were angels.  They worked on some handwriting without a word of complaint, looked at magazines and took turns walking Max.  Even more miraculous was the fact that after maybe 45 minutes an employee came and brought me the keys!  To my utter bewilderment, when we asked what we owed them they pretty much told us to "get" in the nicest way possible.  They had waived the fee!  I went from feeling so much fear and anxiety to such gratitude for their kindness and a God who was so good as to make our experience so much safer and easier than it could have been.

The last three hours were a little hairy due to weather but we made it up in one piece.   

There was a LOT of snow while we were there and we LOVED it!  We built a whole snow family (seven of them, to be exact), dragged the boys behind the truck on sleds, went downhill sledding, built a snow fort, had snowball fights and the boys made snow angels.  

Lucy had mixed feelings about our winter activities.  She didn't always love the snow but she did enjoy being pulled on a sled and going downhill a few times.  

Her favorite part was definitely getting to see family.  Having only had one grandparent growing up, I am so grateful for how close my children get to be with their grandparents.  There were many sweet moments spent with Bobba, Nana, Mimi, Grandpa Ernie and Grandma Zoe.  We were so disappointed to miss Grandpa Dan and Grandma Terree (we had to leave for home a day early to miss another snow storm. Utah has been hammered this year!) but are grateful for the sweet memories we made.

We spent a morning at the Dinosaur Museum with my mom and sister, which was a bunch of fun.  

Eventually, it was time to go home.  Frankly, I couldn't wait.  Traveling this late in my pregnancy was rough.  Still, we are so glad we made the trip so the kiddos could see family and play in the snow!

Atticus was able to participate in a winter soccer session this month.  He is one of the youngest there but is having a blast.  The first day I dropped him off and took Lucy to a nearby playground.  After a half hour or so we came back to check on him and I had more than one person ask me if I was his mom, remarking, "He is so good!"  We are excited for the spring soccer season to start.

He was also given a pair of rollerblades toward the end of the month and is doing well on them.  I've pulled out mine a couple of times to go with him and look forward to doing it more.

He has composed a new song on the piano that is really fun.  I probably say this all the time but he brings such a good feeling into our home when he plays. 

He also learned to use very, very good manners early in the month.  I'll share more about that later.

Atticusism:

• "Bobba, you are so nice.  I wish you could live forever." 

 

Early in the month Hinckley wrote another, fully illustrated book.  It is adorable. 

His artwork continues to improve.  He says he wants to be an artist when he grows up and that could, very well, end up being true.  He spends so much time and almost every picture is fully colored, with background buildings, thought bubbles, and the like.  I love his attention to detail.

He is improving so quickly with his handwriting and sounding out.  I love this age- how he writes without fear and sends notes to everyone.  One day, all three of us got notes that said, "Der ________, I luve yu.  Hinckley."

Isn't this note (below) the best?!  Dane had gotten mad at the boys and it only took a few minutes before Hinckley was busy sounding out a letter for him:

"To Dad, from Hinckley

"Dad, why you are so mean[?]

"I love you but I hope that you feel better." 

And Atticus got this sweet one (see the two above pictures.)  

He really can be so sweet and such a peacemaker.  There are times when he apologizes to Atticus, even when it was Atticus who should be saying sorry.  It's so disarming that Atticus is quick to apologize, in return pretty much every time.

He can also be very sweet with Lucy, as the picture above shows.  We do have to watch him.  He can lose his temper with her and has been known to hit or push her.  In his defense, she has been dishing it out, as well, but we're working on that.  We're all a work in progress.

I may have written this before but, in addition to being an artist when he grows up, he has told us that he loves singing and wants to be in a big choir (like the Tabernace Choir on Temple Square.)  At church it is so fun to see his sweet, serious face as he sings.  I hope he never stops.

Oh Lucy.  How can someone who causes such mischief come in such an adorable package?

I may have already mentioned last month that she lost my credit card.  We looked all through the house and decided we needed to cancel it.  Well, in the middle of the month I finally found it.  I felt vindicated because it was in such a random spot!  As you can see, she'd neatly placed it in a set of bowls that I rarely use.  All I could do was shake my head in exasperation.  

Another source of frustration this month has been her general mistreatment of Mommy (me.)  She will give everyone kisses, hugs and affection but me!  Sometimes she'll even wipe my kisses off or tell me I can't give her a kiss.  Of course, when it's bed time only Mommy will do for books and songs.  Even so, afterward she spent pretty much the entire month pushing me away, looking for a reaction.  I had not heard of such a thing happening among two-year-olds.  It certainly never entered the boys' minds.  

Fortunately, she has relented a bit now at the end of the month.  She'll let me snuggle with her and kiss her and even gave me a few kisses today.  Who knew girls could be coy so early?

 

A huge development for her this month was moving her to a big girl bed.  And we mean, BIG.  She is in a full size bed and it looks like a giant's bed with her in it.  I was so nervous and reluctant to move her, thinking she would be up and out of the bed like a jack-in-the-box but Dane was right.  She was ready and we haven't had a single problem with her sneaking out of bed... so far, anyway.  She loves it and now our crib will be ready when we move Baby Boy to his room.

Another big moment was when she peed on the potty for the first time.  She hasn't done so again and we aren't pushing her but it would sure be nice if she were to potty train sometime soon.   

Listen to Lucy

• "Milky," "Songy," (She adds "y" to the end of a lot of words.  It's so cute.)
• "Lucy do it."
• "I did it!"
• "Doggy barfing." (barking)
• "Poopy" (puppy)
• "Akakus" (Atticus)
• "Eekee" (Hinckley)
• "Akakus/Eekee Dying!" ("_______Crying.")
• "No, Mom,"  or "No, Dad." (Said calmly but ever so firmly as she turns and walks in the opposite direction.  We have our work cut out for us.)
• "Temple" (Asking to hear "I Love to See the Temple," a favorite song.)
• "Aw you seeping?" (Asking to hear "Are you Sleeping?" which is another favorite song right now.)
• "Bells!" (Belle from Beauty and the Beast)
• "Pincess?" (Princess?  Often asked as she looks at clothes, especially dresses.  often she'll conclude, "Not pincess" and refuse to wear it.)

Homeschool

We started the month off reading about George Washington and the American Revolutionary War.  We read Rush Revere and the First Patriots and then read Rush Revere and the American Revolution.  The boys loved it and learned so much about some of the Founding Fathers' personalities, on top of the events that made them so famous.

We finished up reading The Adventures of Pinocchio which was from our study of Italy the month before.  Wow, it was a funny, shocking book!  The boys and I were wide-eyed at many points as we either listened to the audiobook and or they listened to me read.  There are definitely some good life lessons in there but my goodness, is the Disney version different! 

We lightly touched on gardening this month, which means I planted a few seeds (and they are sprouting, hooray!) and we read some gardening picture books.  We also made these adorable crafts with our friends.  You can see Atticus's below:

The next week we studied France and had a blast trying so many French foods: crepes, french bread, croque monsieurs, baguettes.  We also had "French" foods that didn't originate in France (french fries, french toast, french dipped sandwiches.)  When our home school friends came the next week we tried some brie, gruyere and bleu cheese with baguettes and some more American cheese and sausage.  The kids loved it, wrote their own French menus and ate eclairs for dessert.

Hinckley liked my French waitress act so much that he wanted to take my order.  He took notes and when he was done sounding it out he scurried off to get my food.  After staring down at his notes for a few seconds he came back with a sheepish grin on his face.  "I can't actually read this," he said.  He's getting great at reading but sometimes he writes a little too fast and skips sounds, which makes it pretty much impossible for a beginning reader to interpret.  It was so cute!

There was plenty of French music, movies and stories, as well.  (We read all of the original Madeline books, Gabriel and the Hour Book, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast.  We finished the unit off by watching a favorite: Ratatouille.

We also had our first Civility unit this month.  It was basically all about manners or etiquette but we chose to call it Civility after the book (titled The Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior...) that a young George Washington painstakingly copied out and strove to live by.

We put up a "Code of Civility" on the wall, as well as a list of do's and don'ts for "Civility at the Table."  For each day, the children could earn a maximum of $2 in "Manners Money," one dollar for general manners and another for table manners.  They needed to get $10, total, to earn a visit to a French restaurant.

What was fascinating about this unit was the boys' complete opposite reactions.  Atticus, who is not naturally very civil, worked so very hard to earn his "manners money."  His efforts weren't perfect but he improved so much that he earned it quickly.  He tried so hard to be obedient, to eat properly and to be more thoughtful.  It really made a difference in our home.  

There were days that Hinckley, on the other hand, seemed worse than he'd been a long time!  This was interesting, since he really can be a pretty pleasant, civil person, most of the time.  When I'd tell him what a shame it was that he might not get manners money or wouldn't get to come with us to the restaurant he would respond, "I don't care!  I hate restaurants!" or "I hate manners money!"  It would seem that he does not like being manipulated or shaped with a rewards system, in the least.  

Thankfully, he did come around in the end.  It took him several extra days but he improved enough to join Atticus and me.  The three of us had a wonderful time at Le Maison de Maggie, a cute little French cafe.  We didn't try anything crazy (I had originally hoped to get them some escargots) but enjoyed some quiche, croissants, a baguette sandwich and a crepe.  The boys showed excellent manners and even told the waiter "merci."  

Toward the end of the month we spent a week studying Canada.  We called my former mission companion who lives in Alberta, which was a lot of fun.  Her kids were shocked when we told them it really doesn't snow here.  My boys were shocked by what they learned from her boys.  We learned what a "toque" is and a "chinook."  

A couple days later we called my dad and he told us about growing up in Ontario, on the opposite side of the country.  While both conversations had quite a bit in common, we discovered some fun differences, as well.  We studied maple syrup a bit with our home school friends, read about Anne of Green Gables, talked about Mounties (with an episode of "Dudley Do-Right") and learned a fun Canadian folk song, "Going Over the Sea."  Last we watched Fly Away Home, which I hadn't seen for years.

We finished the month off with just a couple days about Switzerland.  I made chicken cordon bleu for my first time ever and am thrilled to say that it got two thumbs up from everyone. 

Afterward, we had chocolate dessert fondue which also brought great rejoicing.  

Sadly, when I tried my hand at making cheese fondue the next night it didn't go so well.  Thank goodness we had another main course to fall back on.  Then our Swiss chocolates saved the night. 

And just like that, it's time for February.  

Now it's just a waiting game.  Baby Boy could be here any day. We're just praying that he comes when he's ready and that we can shower him with love when he does.