Back home

Claire

We had some really fun play days with cousins and friends this week before we had to come home with people that are closer to her age. It is funny to see her play and want to be bossy because she is usually in charge when she plays with her sister, but now learning she needs to compromise. There was one time that her cousin wanted to play hide and seek but Claire wanted to play princess so they ended up playing princess hide and seek. During our trip, she got a few scratches from the cat because she likes to carry the cat in and out of the house and be in control of where it goes. There was a pretty good hiding place for the cat in the food storage room downstairs that would upset Claire when she would hide there and we had to explain we can't reach her. Claire loves to scriptures we do together and we watched a family movie last night as our scriptures because she's been learning about Moses and will more next week. She can remember that Jesus was in the burning bush when that part came up in Prince of Egypt.

Shay

For most of the week we were still in Idaho, she would say at least once a day that she wanted to go to her home and I know the reason was that she wanted her PJ Mask toys. We didn't bring her enough Elsa and PJ Mask cloths either apparently, but she liked playing dress-up in a real Elsa dress at her cousin's house. I'm surprised she didn't try to steal it or beg me to get her one now that we are home. She did so well sleeping in her bed this visit compared to Christmas time and we had zero problems with them waking up in the night or trying to stay up later than bedtime. Shay still has some picky habits with food and didn't like trying some of the new things we had, but I was surprised when she did have a hotdog which she previously hated. Once we got home things are back to normal and I love seeing how much these girls love each other and like to cuddle when they watch a show together!

March Mayhem

 Claire

We have had a crazy week and have been trying to get some time with family for the short amount of time we are visiting Idaho. We were able to have a play date with cousins and a party for a birthday this weekend where they all gathered together to watch movies and cuddle. Claire and her cousin that is only two months younger are thick as thieves as they play together and each tries to be the one in charge of the game, and they forgive each other so easily if they get upset. She has brought grandma's cat inside so many times because she wants to cuddle and play for about 5 minutes before saying "I'm done" and putting her back outside (if she hasn't escaped before that). I was able to get this one picture of her cuddling nicely on the couch instead of forcefully carrying her around.

Shay

She asks for a lot of things we left at home like her PJ mask toys, PJ mask towel, her Elsa dress, and other clothes I didn't pack. There have been a few toys that she was happy to find like the jack in the box that she likes to scare me with, a popsicle thing she used as a binky to play baby, the trains and dolls, and a red tricycle she can ride around the sunroom. They had a lot of fun outside over the last week and trying to get them to wear their shoes and coat has been a hassle because they are used to not needing them at home anymore. Now that it has snowed and we don't have boots it will be harder for them to get outside so I think we will probably start getting stir crazy. Shay gets very upset when she doesn't win so I keep telling her not to make everything a competition but even just going up the stairs she starts saying "I'm going to win" even if she started while Claire is already halfway up.

Fun

Chris's brother was able to come to visit on Friday and they spent the day working and then shooting their guns together. We are around until Thursday and he is hoping that the snow that has been coming down today will melt enough to go shooting again with another brother. It is nice to have so much family in one place to see and visit and we are lucky to have a few friends that live in town too, it keeps our schedule pretty busy at least for evenings. During the days Chris is keeping up with his studying and we go over the notes and we use the little bit of workout gear to do some workouts. We have been able to talk a lot about the future and what our plans might be this coming summer and when he is done with school. Nothing is set in stone, but it is nice to start to make different plans so we will be prepared.

Making it Through March

 Claire

This girl loves all things creative and artsy and used her awesome imagination to create a Princess Repunzle with the magnets we have. She made a few other things like shapes and a mermaid in 2D and needs help with a house and dragon in 3D. Every morning for the past three or four days she has slept longer than Shay who closes their door and comes out to play or talk with me. She started sneaking out of her room and quietly running behind the counter or couch or into the bathroom so she can surprise me. One day Shay caught her and she got pretty upset and said "No you're not supposed to see me!" then ran back into the room to try again. It was pretty cute and Shay is now sneaking too, but she likes to get caught by me saying "what was that" when she gets to her hiding place.

Shay

There were some really fun times playing with Shay's slip n' slide birthday present this week because we were hitting 70 degrees for most of the days. They didn't understand the slide part because it was too scary for them but they loved using the blow-up sliders and sprinkler. I think it would work better if we had a small hill for them to slide down but they like it non the less and spend a lot of time outside now. It makes my floors get dirtier because they come in and go out constantly. The great thing about it is that it wears them down and makes them sleep extra long at night, as long as they don't fall asleep on the couch during the day. I do enjoy cuddling with Shay when she does fall asleep though.

Chris

Last week was in-class time for Chris, and he took a long rotation test on Monday which he passed with a 86%. He got up earlier than me when he was going for his test and left me a note on our calendar like the big sweetheart he is. He had some group presentations on Tuesday and Wednesday about things they learned through this past quarter. Then a special speaker came to give them tips on how to prepare for their licensing test after school is over on Thursday and Friday. Since they scheduled his finals for this week we get an extra week off and plan to head to see family in Idaho for the next two weeks. We finished packing and will be on the road tomorrow and I just hope we will be ready for cold after enjoying what feels like spring here.

Happy 3rd Birthday Shay!

 Birthday

Shay turned 3 this week and we planned her a birthday party on Saturday where we had a friend come over to play. All week I've been brainstorming different things to decorate and make it special so I put together a PJ mask-themed course around our living room. We used some of the material left over from Claire's rainbow party to decorate with streamers, balloons, and tape in the PJ mask colors and used the Happy Birthday banner. I bought snacks that had red, blue, or green packaging to follow the theme and frosted the cupcakes with them as well. Even though we don't have family or a lot of friends in the area, I'm glad we were able to make it special by decorating for her. She showed how excited she was and said thank you too which was sweet and melted my heart since I was feeling bad not many friends came to play with her.

Shay

She was gifted a new blanket and pillow made by her nana that she sleeps with every night which was almost surprising because she loves only her zebra baby blanket since her binky died. I told her uncles about her obsession with PJ masks and they supplied her addiction with pajamas, a water bottle, and a towel for her to want to wear 24/7. She won't get to use the slip n' slide she got until later this week when the weather is supposed to be in the 70s and I was told there was another present coming in the mail so maybe more crazy excitement videos to come! I love this little girl so much and feel so blessed to be her mom especially when she says she loves me out of the blue. I think it only happens because she says mommy wanting something and I say what and then she forgets what she wanted so she says "I love you" instead.

Claire

It is hard to do something exciting just for one child so this week has been pretty fun for Claire too because she helps with all the fun activities. She was trying to tell Shay to be patient as we were decorating because it takes a while to get everything put together and I obviously have to tell Claire to be patient all the time. I know she can be creative because some of her games are goofy, but she gets a lot of her ideas from shows we have watched. She is playing mommy with the balloons we had for the party and makes me take notes because of an episode of Bluey in which that happens. Some show must have told her that checkers was a game and she wants to play with toys characters we have even if her idea of checkers is moving them anywhere on the board like they are walking. We practice every day with writing as her homework so she can get an hour with the tablet to play a reading game, but she often gets distracted and it takes until the end of the day to even earn it.