Joyful January

 Claire

This week had a few fun moments and was filled with lots of playing, which I found out we need to cut back on! We had a Parent-Teacher conference on Thursday and she is way too playful and needs to focus a little, especially during her computer time because she is behind. We created a plan to have her work on it at home for 30 extra minutes a week to get her caught up, Claire also made it her goal to have neat handwriting and to be able to spell some of her sight words. Now that I work almost every morning, I admit my faults in not focusing on her school work and need to get in a better habit of doing it right after school even if she asks to go play with the neighbor. She's played outside with her neighbor several times this week despite the snow and keeps making lots of new friends at the gym.

Shay

When we went to Claire's school, originally I wanted to leave her at home with daddy, but Chris had his schedule changed and ended up working that day so she joined us. She was excited to see where Claire went to school because there is a reading treehouse thing with toys underneath and she played while I met with the teacher. She was even sad to leave, I think she will love going to school when her time comes and we will probably look into a preschool for next year to help it come faster for her! When she wears her Elsa dress, she likes to stand on top of our heating vents when they turn on to fluff her shirt, I caught her in my room while I was working on some stuff and she started singing. They giggled after a while and went to find the "next one" and I heard them run to the living room where there is another one next to our couch.

Temple

On Saturday, Claire and Shay went to play with my Aunt Katie so Chris and I could go to our wedding temple in Ogden. She had called the week before to see when she would see them again and they were there when we set it up so they were excited all week. They specifically wanted to bring their puzzles there and show her they can solve them by themselves. Probably because I was finishing up a puzzle as we made the plans so it makes sense when you know all the details. I was really grateful for the chance to enjoy the temple and go back again after 7 years. Going while it was snowy and cold made the memories even more exact and we walked by as two different wedding groups were taking pictures on the grounds when we were leaving. It was right before dinner time when we picked up the girls and we made a quick decision to hurry our butts to the nearest BWWs for dinner and only had to wait about 15 minutes to get seated. the girls ordered cheeseburgers again and this one was a little thicker and harder to bite, but they liked them and colored their pages the whole dinner.

Just Another Week In January

 Coming up with titles for our weeks is starting to become hard...also, sorry about not having good pictures this week :)

Claire

This week feels like more of a routine and getting back to normal even though she didn't have school on Monday and Tuesday. I made sure to make one day shopping with mommy for groceries, and the other we went to the library. I'm trying to convince her to do her homework, but she is resisting and says it's boring now and that makes it very frustrating for me. Any ideas to bribe would be welcomed at this point! They have started helping me with chores and putting their clothes in the correct drawers after they are cleaned, their big job is cleaning up the toys they bring out every day. All their toys seem to be expanding and I need to figure out how to make some disappear because it is sometimes a full hour of every night cleaning for them. 

Shay

She is still very obsessed with Frozen and likes to act out the movie when she watches because she has many of the characters. Her TV watching is usually really involved with her toys now and Claire has started to copy that by playing with her pony toys when they watched the movie. I think it's better than just brainlessly watching, but I wish they would go back to watching number blocks because they were at least watching something partially educational. Shay has come home from the gym 3 times this week with very colorful hands because she will spend so much time coloring while we are there. Some kids will do one or two pages, but she is coloring so many these days! 

Date? 

We tried to do a family date and it didn't go well...first, it was a last-minute decision to go out to eat and so we didn't leave until after the dinner rush. When we got there it was going to be an hour wait for a table and the girls were already starving apparently so we ordered a take-out meal and waited in the car while the girls watched a show on my phone. Chris fed the girls some of their food while we drove home and we sat at our table trying to enjoy the food that was slightly cold. We played a game together after the girls went to bed as our activity and it made the Saturday pretty good for a thrown-together date night.

Just Another Week in Farmington

 Claire

She has been doing great in school and likes seeing her friends, even though she has started to say that homework is boring. We have books she is supposed to read and numbers she works on, but so much of her day is still filled with playing with her sister, and at the gym with other kids. I remember when she used to be excited to start a new homework book like a year ago when we were still always home. I wish there was a way to keep it fun, but really this is her life for the next 12+ years, and she just needs to get used to it I guess! I think she is really creative when it comes to the games she plays, and she likes to organize her toys even if it isn't off the floor put away organized. We got replacement toy ponies for ones she got for Christmas and already broke, but they are so small that she keeps losing track of them and we spend a lot of time searching for tiny ponies. She does love them though, so I'm glad it makes her happy and she gets to be excited again.

Shay

She is having a problem with wanting new things and comes and asks for the same things over and over again even when I tell her "yes, for your birthday." As of right now, I've agreed to get her a Frozen microphone, Frozen slippers, and new toys from her new favorite show, along with a few other little things. This is a habit that I feel like we started way back when Claire got stuff for her birthday and Shay wanted new things so I would say we can get it for her for Christmas. I don't know what I'll say when it passed her birthday and she is asking for new stuff, except I have been thinking about getting them a chore chart and having them earn money for helping around the house. They are already willing to help, but earning money they can spend on new toys and DI or something might make them understand that toys cost money and they can't have new stuff all the time! Either way...Shay is cute anyway and has started to get better at coloring (which she does every day at the gym now) and puts colors in places instead of scribbling all over the page!

Girls Night

I drove all the way up to have a Girl's Night with all the women in-laws on the Bell side that live close by, even though one got sick last minute and couldn't come. We soaked in some hot springs and then went out for Thai Food, and we got to talk for several hours and catch up. I kept thinking how nice it was to be close to family again and be able to do a day trip so easily. I'm excited that we only live a few hour's drive from visiting and look forward to knowing people will show up if I plan my daughter's birthday party! I also keep thinking about how next summer I'll be able to join all the Pocatello races with my sisters-in-law and we can visit for the weekends they are on! Chris had a movies night with the girls and they were both asleep by the time I got home!

Only one week into 2023?

 Claire

School started back up on Wednesday and she was excited to get to go back to her friends and teacher. They picked up right where they left off and we’ve been doing homework and getting back to our routine. It seems like she is getting better at sharing and worse and tattling. If Shay does something bad Claire will say “I just need to go tell mommy I love her” and then come to me and immediately tattle on Shay. I like knowing if something bad is happening but it doesn’t feel right that she is lying so blatantly to her sister. There was one morning that we had almost all girls at the gym and they were being so cute watching Beauty and the Beast that we let them move the couches and get blankets.

Shay

She was so excited to go to primary today! As we were walking to church she kept asking if she can go again this week. Her teacher even said Shay is her favorite because she loves how excited she gets about participating. Since her favorite color was blue, she went through a phase where she liked characters with blue hair from TV shows like Ladybug, Hilda, and True. She finally has more colors she likes but for Christmas, she got a coloring book with the Ladybug character with a mask and has been asking me to make a mask for the other characters for her birthday. She’s definitely into super hero’s more than Claire is!

Us

Chris had some days off because New Year's Day was on Sunday and their clinic was closed on Monday but it made the other days pretty busy for him. He experienced taking Claire to school on Thursday to give me time to work out after work. He has started a month of low carb and has finally been suffering like I used to when I was on my diet. I've been on an appetite suppressant and haven't suffered as much the past 2 months but now we can suffer together as a couple...so romantic.

Happy New Year!

Celebration 

What an exciting time that the girls don't seem to even notice. They aren't old enough to handle staying up until midnight, especially since our church is now at 9am and I needed them to come to wake us up in the morning. We did have my cousin's daughters come watch them for a dinner date on Saturday so Chris and I could celebrate our anniversary. We matched and looked cute but didn't get a picture together, I only got a picture of the fish that they had in their waiting area. There were cute countdowns on Netflix that they were excited about, but besides Shay getting to be in primary and Claire getting a new teacher they haven't talked about it much. Maybe it's not as exciting for them because they don't keep track of the dates ever and one day doesn't seem like that much difference. I have been talking to them about how old they are going to turn this next year and how last year we moved and all that but still didn't seem to interest them that much. Chris and I stayed up until 11 watching a movie, but we both got tired and went to bed instead of trying to be crazy at midnight.

Claire

She has only asked twice why she isn't going to school every day and they get to keep coming to the gym with me, so they don't feel cooped up at home. Since it has been raining and cold, we've been finding things to do inside like their new kinetic sand from Christmas and doing school work. There are still two days of her vacation and we will figure out how to stay not as crazy and then be able to start back on Wednesday. We went to a party on Friday with Chris's coworkers and there was a cat that all the 3 girls that were there were all obsessed with. Claire was especially excited when she found the toys and found out that the kitty would play because she barely paid attention to eating. The whole party was a pizza party...but she's asked to go back to the cat house a lot now.

Shay

She doesn't ask as often, but we did go to the library because they asked again this past week and we were needing to do things. We went on Thursday and it was the last time we get to do the Christmas scavenger hunt they have going on there. Hopefully, there is something fun for January because we haven't gone as often now that I'm working and we don't go to storytime. She was absolutely obsessed with the kinetic sand (and calls it playdough) and I'm glad I found a container with high sides because she is so messy with it. I foresee needing to buy more because I sweep up some every time they pay with it. I'm noticing that Shay is a very sensitive little girl and gets very hurt when I tell her no or say she accidentally messes up my puzzle she gets very sad. She starts to cry, run away, hide and does not want to get any attention and be screaming. It only ever stops when I ask for a hug and she can tell me why she is so upset.