Merry Christmas to All!

 Christmas

We were able to drive up to Idaho and spend the holiday with family after Chris got off work on Friday and had all day Saturday and most of Sunday to enjoy. Everyone was there on Saturday morning so we opened all the presents I had brought with us so we didn't have to do two Christmas and the girls didn't notice the difference. They'd been patiently waiting to open their presents so they were excited to finally see all the amazing gifts they got. I wish we had been better at telling them where the gifts came from because Shay now thinks everything was from Santa. We visited our friends Saturday night for dinner and a few hours of playtime while we enjoyed our own game. We got to have two big meals with all the cousins and plenty of playtime on Christmas before we had to come home. 

Claire

Earlier in the week, she had her last day at school and we started our break by picking up more shifts at the gym for people who were going out of town. Luckily, they have been good girls while I'm working and like to play with the kids who come in. Claire will ask when older girls are coming because she wants to play with them and she had a favorite because of the two kitty toys she brought in. Claire got a dress and crown for Christmas and was wearing it most of the time to match her sister's new dress. We had one more year of fitting in the handmade dresses we got last year and I convinced both of them to match mommy and daddy for Christmas...even though Chris changed out of his clothes before we could all get a picture together...not that I'm upset about it or anything. Claire brought her new ponies in a new backpack to church and ended up coloring through her magic marker pony book in less than 24 hours after getting the gift! 

Shay

I did my first shift in the afternoon this week and Shay fell asleep in our cinema room while watching the movie we had on. She slept for a good while and since we didn't have anyone to watch we left early she had been sleeping more than half the time we were there. There was one day this week she threw a tantrum and it took a while to understand her enough to fix the problem. Her tooth has made it a little harder to understand her all the time, but she can usually get her point across eventually.  I'm not going to list all the presents they got because that's a lot, but Shay has been wearing her Elsa dress nonstop and wanted to go to bed in it and wear it to church. Shay brought her PJ mask dolls to church and wanted to bring Elsa, but she was too big for my bag. She then fell asleep under the pew and we had to wake her up when it was time to go home!

Christmas is Coming!

 Claire

There is a sense of organization with her toys that is fun to watch and I know that she gets it from me. She makes sure to put her toys away in like places separating the baskets of dogs, cats, ponies, and princesses. It also rubbed off on Shay who split her PJ masked and Frozen toys when putting things away. Now I need them to also put things away without me telling them 10 times every night. We went over for dinner at my cousin's house who lives in town and the girls were most excited about the dogs. I was glad to catch up with family and look forward to the offer they gave of their girls babysitting ours! They found my ear warmer thing and thought it was funny to wear it, and because I thought Shay looked adorable and took a picture, Claire needed me to take a picture of her with it too.

Shay

Big week for our little girl! There has been a tooth that has been broken for a long time. The dentist we saw a couple weeks ago told us that it needed to be pulled because the infection could harm the permanent teeth. She was the best patient and stayed calm throughout the whole procedure, even when the dentist numbed her with the needle. The dentist and nurse were great, and Shay was excited about losing her tooth. We put it under her pillow that night and the tooth fairy left her a Catboy doll! Claire now asks me to check her teeth for wiggles! We went to the DI this week so Claire could get a present for her sister and Daddy could get some much-needed new gym shorts. It is hard to be in that store without them finding toys they want, so we got them each a toy, Claire got a new flying unicorn pony, and Shay got a Frozen bedroom thing that they have been having a lot of fun playing with and bringing to the gym to show off and share.

December fun

 Claire

This week at school was fun for her and we didn't miss any days because of the weather luckily. She finished learning about the gingerbread man and made a book of things if ran away from that she read to me. Her favorite was chasing the gingerbread man at her school because when she caught him, she earned a cookie...sounded fun when she told me about it! She made a pinata for school and had some sour candies in it so when she chose to eat it, I had to snap a picture. She still liked to share her dreams in the morning and has now also told me a bedtime story last night since I keep telling her Christmas stories at night continuing the tradition from my childhood. Also continued crying during EVERY story that my dad started and I proudly continue. I simplify the stories quite a bit to help them understand them and had a lot of fun putting ourselves in the Gift of the Magi story. Claire and I went to cut our hair to buy daddy a gift in my version and he still thought we were beautiful! 

Shay

I just realized that today was her 2nd to last day in the nursery because we only have an hour for church on Christmas and then in January she starts in the primary. It seems like she was there forever and yet there's no way she is old enough right? They had sticker dots for music time that the kids earned if they sang and Shay wore her's with pride while Claire kept saying she did get some but took them off. Shay knows a cute song about some monkey's in a tree that taunt an alligator that snaps them up! Since daddy was sick today, she sang it for him when we got home and I caught the last verse on video for all of you. While we were trying to cuddle and watch a Christmas movie, Claire decorated us with dogs and Shay had to sit really still to get her head dog. It was almost a disaster, but it worked and Claire insisted on taking a picture of her masterpiece. 

Happy Holidays!

Claire

She was very excited to start our advent calendars, even though the 1st was a busy morning because we had to get to my work, and then go straight to school. We did the first of the days at the end of the day, the other days mainly were before bedtime! On Monday, as we were walking into the library there was snow falling and I taught them to catch it on their tongues instead of trying to eat the stuff off the ground. It was still November, so there weren't any decorations yet, but hopefully going this week, we will see a lot! Claire had two snow days this week because anytime the school has a late start, they cancel the kindergartens and we did school work at home to make up for it. They were learning about the gingerbread man story and Claire got a cookie and could sort of tell the story by looking at the pictures. 

Shay

She is getting used to being at the gym with my for the time we are there and is just always snacking so I have to find things that are more filling. She'll eat all of the lunch I pack and then we have to rush home to eat lunch before Claire starves at school. They also get to experience the fun new stuff that happens like when the gym got a shipment and gave the Kidcare the bubble wrap! On Friday, one of Claire's snow days, we went to Farmington station because there is a snowman search throughout the outside mall. We found most of them, but we had gone after getting chick-fil-a for a late lunch and it was starting to get too cold so I promised we would go back again to find the last 3. I tried to keep track of where we had found them so I can remember where else we need to look, the girls loved finding them and we took a picture with the one that is working out!

Dentist

The girls have been to dentists before, but it has been a while and they had a lot of fun at this one! There was a really cool aquarium they enjoyed fish-watching, and the dentist pointed out the different types of fish. Both nurses and the dentist were very good with kids because this was a pediatric dentist's office and knew how to get them comfortable. We did find out some news about Shay's tooth that makes our hearts break a little because one of them needs to be removed. With the many times, she had falls that hit her two front teeth, the left side is broken and there is an infection sitting right next to her permanent tooth and we don't want it to get ruined. It's going to be sad to see her without that tooth for so long, but I'm hoping it hasn't already been there too long and it will just be a memory to look back at when she grows up with her beautiful teeth. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Claire

She always asks daddy to make a fire in our fireplace and likes to sit in front of it watching the flames for a while with Shay. We only had to tell them once not to touch because it's hot, and not to throw anything in because that's daddy's job. We had an interesting Thanksgiving because Claire was just getting over being sick, Shay was starting to get sick, and I had a stomach bug the two days before so I was nervous about eating anything. Claire helped me make rolls while Chris went to work out, and Shay helped with making sweet potatoes with marshmallows. Once Chris got home he did the potatoes and gravy while the ham was cooking and we were going to sit down as a family to eat, but Shay was asleep on the couch. Claire didn't stay at the table very long and I had a very small portion so it was a little sad, but we did talk about what we were grateful for during the 2 minutes Claire joined us. Then, of course, we decorated for Christmas on Friday! 

Shay

She caught Claire's sickness last week and has been napping every day because she wakes up coughing at night. We've been giving her medicine and babying her, but she still has the energy to play and be excited about life. Before she showed symptoms, she came to work with me at the gym and likes to play for the first 2 hours but after doing everything there she asks to go home. I wish our tablet still worked and I could distract her because most of my shifts are 4 hours and having her complain about being there is not very fun for me. We have them do exercise with YouTube videos for part of the time and they all love it, and there should be enough toys, crafts, and friends to play with. Hopefully, she'll get more used to being there because we now get to go a lot more often. I did notice that she doesn't ask to leave the house for shopping or to the library because we go to my job for so long, so that was interesting.

Starting Something New

 Claire

I did mean to take more pictures this week because we visited some family on Saturday. We drove up to Idaho for an extended family Thanksgiving dinner and even though the day became filled with other things, we saw cousins, aunts, and uncles. There were a few kids Claire and Shay's age that they played with and plenty of toys they got distracted with. Chris got to go shooting with his brother, and I wanted the girls to play with their cousins, but things just didn't happen that way. Luckily we will be there again for Christmas in about a month. We did bring home some wood and Chris started a nice fire tonight in our fireplace! Claire got sick in the middle of the week and started falling asleep really early in the evening and sleeping through the night, I think she's mostly done but Chris took her home after sacrament meeting because she was still coughing. We had to be at sacrament because I was singing and playing my flute in the choir and Chris needed to keep the girls in their seats while I was up on the stand.

Shay

Although she tried to come up on the stand while I was up there because she missed me, she wasn't too disruptive and the song went well. She stayed with me through the second hour of church because she hasn't shown any sick symptoms and she is loving nursery. It will be cool to have them both in primary starting next year and see how excited Shay is to be with her sister! I've gotten in a good groove of working out after dropping Claire off at school so Shay sometimes comes down to work out too. I usually get her interested in a show so I can have my time downstairs alone, but she has fun being strong. They both flex their muscles sometimes and it's cute to see them acting like they are strong because they see mommy and daddy working out all the time. Now we will get to go to a real gym and I wonder if it will be the same, since I work there I probably will still work out at home and only do some days at the gym.

New Job

Chris is feeling really comfortable in his new job here and now I get the experience of a new job too! I start tomorrow for my first day of training but was able to also attend a girls' night that they do every once in a while to have a meeting and then get to know each other better. I felt a little awkward because everyone else already knew each other, but I hope to fit in and be able to make a place for myself. I'll be training this week and then I've been given 18 hours a week so far, and as long as my girls stay healthy I can pick up even more hours. 

Normalizing November

 Claire

This week was a regular full week at school for Claire, and as far as I can tell, she seems to fit in pretty well. I would love to visit her one day and see what she is like during the school day and how well she follows directions, participates, and listens. I still feel like I'm bad at a regular homework schedule because Shay likes to distract her since they aren't at the same level. I need to be able to set a specific time, but I was feeling sick two days this week and the mornings are pretty hard when I'm tired and ill. I got a job at a Gym Daycare and will be working some mornings now so I should start implementing doing her homework right after school, but we always get home at the same time as our neighbor and they ask to play all the time now and as long as it is sunny, they've been going in the back yard. Claire learned that they are moving and was sad when she told me but when I said I already knew because her mom told me she said, "you know everything." It was funny but I'm glad they are having fun right now, they played for 3 hours today after church and before bedtime!

Shay

Our long days seem longer when she constantly asks to go to the store, library, park, swimming pool, dino park, cousin's house, grandma's house, and everywhere else in the world it seems. I'm hoping by starting the daycare job, will give her some excitement about not being at home since it looks like I'll have 3-4 shifts to have them join me. They will get to play with some new friends and get out more often and not have to ask to leave all the time, then even on the days I don't work we get to visit for a shorter time if I go there to work out! The library has been fun, but she doesn't do well with story times anymore, she is either too excited or too loud to be quiet. She is able to be quiet when she plays her cute little games at home, even when I haven't asked her to be quiet which makes me laugh sometimes. She was really helpful this week when I raked the leaves in the backyard and used a smaller rake, only hitting me with the handle once...but they love helping cook even if there isn't any way to help.

November Now

 Claire

For her shortened school day on Halloween, I put her hair in a bun and did my best to make it look like a spider. I should have found a bigger black piece of fabric, but she loved it how it was, and then I had to do the same for Shay. Chris worked until 6pm and we went out trick or treating as soon as he got home so we felt rushed and I didn't get a picture of them in their outfits. Claire was Owlette from PJ masks to match her sister's outfit and we drove to the street her teacher's house was so we could walk up and down that one. There were so many other kids around walking and we got a full bucket for each girl including one full-sized Hershey's bar, cotton candy, a soda, and lots of other little candies. So far they've eaten some and parent tax has taken the really good stuff. We also filled the day that she had off of school on the 1st with going to the library and painting some pictures. Claire was practicing and getting really frustrated with trying to set up dominos, I even has a hard time getting them all in the line the one time I did it.

Shay

On Wednesday, it snowed all morning and the girls noticed right before Claire had to go to school so Shay got to play out in the backyard for a while before getting too cold. When Claire came home they played together but it wasn't good enough snow to make a snowman like they wanted so they just did snowballs and dug down into the mud. It melted the next day but they seem really excited about it and I'm glad we are going to enjoy it now that we are back in a place where it snows. I need to get them some snow pants and sleds so we can enjoy being in this hilly area! Most of the parks have at least little hills that will be easy for the girls to climb up and down, but it has to snow again. Without Claire around, I get to see her keeping herself busy and finding things to do which is interesting to me in its own way. There hasn't been a lot of time in her life that she has been without her sister honestly.

The Makers

I went for a job interview this week at a gym Kidcare I would be able to work at with the girls coming with me. They apparently don't have a lot of hours, but I got the job and hopefully will get enough hours to make it worth it more than a free membership for Chris and me. Even with our own gym at home, having more cardio, machines, and amenities at the gym will be cool again, especially the sauna stuff. I wished there was a job that I could do online from home, but be able to walk away every so often to take Claire to school and spend time with them. They won't leave me alone long enough during the day for me to have a job where I have meetings or set times I have to be at the computer. This will work for now and I will hopefully get more hours as I'm there longer so we can have an extra income to pay more toward our debt. We have officially started and did our first payment.

Creeping Towards Halloween

 Claire

She had a great school week and is starting to remember and learn so much! We have been asking and having her recite my phone number, 911, her name, our names, her birthday, and our address. The only one she can't do now is our address and out of the 26 sight words she still struggles with about 8 and can usually get the majority if she sounds them out first. It is fun to see how much she is learning and especially how creative she is being because she likes drawing, coloring, and then cutting out pictures to put on their wall above where they sleep. You can see how Shay lays out her Frozen characters for bed time too. She now likes to make check lists, and draw love hearts for daddy to send under the door when he was sick. They had way too much fun visiting with their great aunt while Chris and I went out on Saturday and I got picture updates of all their activities. They colored, decorated cookies, played with the dogs, and watched movies together. 

Shay

With all the time we spend just the two of us, you would think she would be sick of me but she seemed to love me. She likes to come find me with what I'm doing and say she loves me when she actually wants to ask for food usually. I always have an answer that involves making sure she had finished her food fromthe meal we just ate before she can ask for more food so she is funny about going to 'I love you' instead of asking for food if she already knows the answer. She has been wearing her Catboy costume a lot recently and I don't doubt we will still have it as something she can dress up in since I've already repaired three holes. If you can't tell, her favorite things are Catboy and Elsa which means she loves the color blue. I couldn't tell you which came first but I suspect she liked Elsa which made her like blue and then pick Catboy because he was blue. Who knows!

Halloween

Chris finished his yearly milk carton skeleton and we carved pumpkins this week, meaning Chris did his and I did the girl's pumpkins. I never got around to doing mine later in the week since I was too worn out after doing both of their with what they wanted. Shay wanted a PJ mask Catboy, of course, and Claire wanted all the princesses so I had her pick just one and help me draw it on there to cut. Being the weekend before the actual holiday, we went and met up with some friends to do a corn maze and a haunted field right next to it. We were pretty disappointed with the maze part and I definitely wish we had looked for a different one since the season is now over and corn mazes are my favorite part. It was small and didn't have a map to go with it, just wandering around and we were able to get out of one of the many exits in like 5 minutes. We went to eat before the field of fear opened and had some tasty Hawaiian food.

Exploring The Area

 Claire

She was very excited to go to a new park this week when we joined some people from the neighborhood in a play group at a castle park. It wasn't the closest park, but the girls loved it because it was a huge castle and pirate ship with little colored eyes all over the place to find. I got to meet a few moms and talk while the kids explored and played, then had to deal with the rest of the week wanting to go back to that far away park. Every week we will go to a different park so we will see what is to come this next week. She had a good week at school and I got her interested in trying to read some books from the library by finding the level section and picking out level 1 books with what interests her. I'm trying to get her to practice reading the words in the sentences that are her sight words so she can see them used in books as well as on her sight word paper. We dressed in some cute sweater dresses for church because it is getting colder and they looked too cute to miss on a picture.

Shay

Most of the week she joined Claire in asking to go to the castle park again because she really liked how the theme of the castle was blue and there was a raft swing that was blue. I'm glad she understood the lesson we taught last time she peed on the ground at the park that she needs to tell me and find a potty. I would have been embarrassed if she peed on the ground, but she went with me to the potty instead and explained that we don't pee on the ground anymore. She is starting to not expect to go soewhere everytime we take Claire to school and most the time we come home, but on Friday she got to come see daddy at work! He gets to comp his own treatment and ne other person's treatment, so we got by blood drawn to see how my labs are doing since I haven't seen them in a while. All the people in the clinic thought Shay was so cute and she was being so polite when we went to the next store to buy some new cloths, even saying 'excuse me' in the isle. I then let her go into DI because it was really close to the cloths store and she found new Elsa and Anna dolls that match and were only $2 each. I like being able to spoil her with cheap toys that make her happy!

Family

We went to Logan to celebrate Chris's brother's accomplishment of graduting with a PH.D and got to see a lot of the cousins we had said goodbye to recently. We traveled in the rain and by the time we went home it was snowing in the higher mountains and we had snow on the tops of our mountains on Sunday morning too. It changed to cold really quickly just over the last two days and now it feels like winter all of a sudden. Hopefully trick or treating won't be too cold and I can plan by having warm cloths under the girl's outfits and find our umbrellas in case of down pouring. Still need to offically decide on our costumes and if we are going to match the girls or not because I don't want to have to buy too much to match them.