Ending April

Claire 

During this past week, we have enjoyed so much springtime, finally! The girls play outside daily, usually with the neighbor, even when it is overcast and chilly, but I'm glad they have so much fun. Unfortunately, they like to bring their toys outside and some of the days are muddy from the rain has happened. This week, Claire's class went on a field trip to the farm and I signed up to be a chaperone because I was able to bring Shay with us. The whole class with plenty of parents and a few siblings, including Shay, all walked about 6 blocks to a house that had some farmland with goats, sheep, horses, a cow, chickens, ducks, and geese. They had baby goats and chicks that made it extra special, and the kids were able to feed some of the animals and ask questions about them. It was a cute little field trip and now next week, Claire is going to the zoo and I'm going to try and chaperone again so I can bring Shay.

Shay

She is still taking naps which surprises me sometimes, but they seem to happen out of nowhere because she's always in weird positions while she is doing something else. I think I remember Claire doing similar naps, at least on the days that were overly busy and drained her energy with activities. Shay was very excited to go with Claire to her school and to the farm, but I can see that she needs to get used to lines, taking turns, and a few other things before she is ready for school. There were several times she tried to cut in front of the lines that the kids were in for different things and would get mad if we tell her she can't do it yet. She does seem a little better with her anger because she can calm down faster, but there is still some work. I'm glad she has more happy moments like when she figured out how to go ice skating in our house!

Outdoor Fun in the Sun

 Claire

This week has had pretty beautiful weather letting us go to the park more than once! We went last Sunday and today to the close park, and then to another one once after school during the week. We live about 3 blocks from one where the girls get to ride their bikes too but they have to use their breaking skills because we go downhill half the way and then Chris and I have to carry their bikes part of the way. The other park we went to after school was farther away but their girls had a lot of fun because it had a climbing wall that they had done a million times. The sunny days of playing outside have been catching up to them and they both fell asleep cuddling with Chris on Thursday an hour before their normal bedtime. We also visited Lagoon yesterday for another 6 rides, even though it was colder we had a great time. The shorter visits are so much more enjoyable because the get to experience the fun parts without getting too bored because we are there all day. Claire liked the Terror Ride and keeps asking to go on the big roller coasters, so we tell her to finish eating all her food so she can get taller.

Shay

I have noticed so much attitude from her this past week when I tell her she can't do things or have things. She has started to say that she hates me because she can't eat ice cream every meal and I don't give her new toys and such which breaks my heart. I'm hoping to help her calm her emotions better soon when she is getting upset so she can be reasoned with before screaming. She does like sticking her tongue at me, especially when I'm taking her picture...The time we have in the morning at the gym has been the best because she has found a few friends that she likes to play with. I've noticed her playing with the same boy because they both like PJ masks, and she likes anyone who wears Elsa things. I might have to get them used to less time at the gym soon because I had a job interview for a work-from-home job. 

Spring Has Sprung

 Claire

While we had a scare with rain turning into snow on Thursday and it being colder, this week's weather has finally felt like spring. Claire got some grass seed from her teacher one day and they all spread it out in the spot where they all enter and exit the school so they can see it growing soon. Her flower is thriving as well and growing, but there haven't been more than leaves on the stem so far. When we visited Lagoon, we saw some little flower beds have flowers already and they found some that had fallen off so we put them in our hair. She also found some rolly bugs while we were in line for the Ferris Wheel and were playing in the dirt...yay. Kids are so fun that way, making 'sand' castles in our front yard because there are nongrassy spots. They also like to make houses and play 'neighbors' with the slides they have with their neighbor! I've noticed more dirt in my house...but they are pretty good at closing the doors at least and we've enjoyed opening windows for the breeze.

Shay

I'm trying to remember if Claire would still take naps at 4 and I think there were still a few times she was tired enough, but Shay sleeps in weird positions sometimes. Then on days that I think she will no doubt fall asleep, like after Lagoon, she stays up and is cranky at the world. She had been asking all week to go on the Ferris ride because we didn't get to the Ferris Wheel last week, and we did it as our first ride this week. Chris is trying to warm them up to the idea of going on the Terror ride so he called it a Halloween ride and they were excited at first. When we walked by and saw the outside, Shay said she doesn't want to go because she might get scared, and I seconded it because I don't want my kids to be scared! They already still complain about being scared at bedtime and we found Shay cuddled up next to Claire again last night with Claire's arm around her...so cute!

Happy Easter!

Claire

Lots of things to talk about this week! It was spring break but Monday and Tuesday were both really snowy and gave us more snow right when it was almost all melted from our lawn. I didn't measure, but I'm sure there was at least a foot of snowfall overall and I shoveled multiple times on both days because of it! We were all safe and only going to the gym and not having school made it easier to stay home, but Claire was good at playing with her sister. Once the sun came out she convinced Daddy to build a snowman with her and her neighbor friend, but it melted quickly and now we can enjoy spring! Her flower is growing and she reminds me to water it sometimes, but mostly I have to remember because she has way too many games to play.

Shay

She's been spoiled by having her sister home from school, but actually, I think it was good for her because they did their homework together every day. It must be the comradery of doing it together, but they don't complain as much when it's a project together. We also made some birthday cards for Nana Cox and even though I should have gotten them in the mail sooner, they loved drawing pictures and notes for her. She has this weird need to come out during bedtime and ask for a million things which in the past has been medicine, or because her ear hurts. Recently, she's been either hot, cold, or scared and it only takes telling her that their Jesus night light will protect her and to cuddle with a toy. We caught her cuddling Claire though after the last time and it was so sweet, so her new-new thing is to go to the bathroom 5 times because she kept over-peeing in her pullup and leaking.

Saturday

We made a financial investment into our summer and purchased season passes to Lagoon for each of us in the family! The opening has been postponed twice this year because of snow and weather issues but it was finally opened and Claire and Shay learned what lines are. There were small lines to get our passport IDs and into the park, then the ride's lines started getting longer and longer. Their first ride was teacups and we were getting rained on by melting snow while we waited, and then they didn't get the color they wanted, but they were excited about the ride and didn't throw a fit about it. I had foreseen it happening and explained that we would be back over and over again and they love all the colors of the rainbow so it's okay to not get the one we want. In total, we went on 8 rides and really noticed them being done when we waited for the train because it was a loooooong wait and they kept wanting to lie down. Shay fell asleep on the way home and napped for a few hours, but they've already been asking to go again and I know they had a blast when we were actually on the rides.

Easter

The girls cleaned the house extra well on Saturday night because the Easter bunny was coming to visit, and we set out their baskets so they could be filled. Claire put a note with her basket to make sure they didn't get mixed up, and we did our last scripture egg for the week. All week, our scriptures have been eggs we open and read about the last week of Jesus with objects to help them understand, but the last egg is empty to symbolize the empty tomb. Then I told them about the special egg that the Easter Bunny gives that is empty to remind us about Jesus and Claire said she wanted to be the one to find it. She was the one to find it in the morning, and then she told me she wanted to give it to Jesus! They did the egg searching all before church and I let some stay hidden, but right as we were about to leave, Shay found the last hidden egg. Then we had a beautiful church service and I sang a solo of my newest favorite Easter song, Garden Hymn. The girls have been playing with sidewalk chalk, new coloring books, bubbles, and puzzles, that were all from their baskets. 

A Weekend Away

 Travel

We took a trip up to Idaho to visit our family for the weekend having a few things on our to-do list around listening to General Conference. Chris went shooting with his brother yesterday and used his parent's shop to take care of my car needs by changing my oil and rotating my tires. Having a place to do it on our own is really nice and he was helpful with some other car stuff that needed to get done with his parent's car too. We had a big dinner at the firehouse with grandpa and the other family that lives close then spent the morning session of the Sunday conference over at the girl's cousin's house. I had hopes they would learn from their cousins to pay attention and listen, but I think they are still a little too young to have the attention span for listening to the talks. We had them try to listen for key words during the bingo but they just really wanted the candy and that's okay, I teach them the scriptures as a start. There were some baby chicks being housed in the sunroom and the girls got to hold them as long as they followed the rules. They liked naming the ones they held but I'm sure some got two names and the black ones were less popular with my girls.

Claire

I was told by her teacher this week that she isn't doing well with her computer work at school and it explains why she told me it was boring earlier. The designers probably do their best to have interesting and fun learning experiences, but she gets stuck on the same level so it doesn't change for too long. I'm still having her do it at home, but we got out of practice because she kept having so much take-home homework instead. Having mom 'help' her got her past the last of the level she was stuck on, so hopefully, she will be interested again and I'll keep checking. It is cute to me when she calls it a 'puter' but I'm still working on correcting her when she is saying things wrong because she can't stay my baby forever. One of the rules with the chicks was that the door had to be closed if Daisy, the cat, was let inside so we only saw her once this weekend when Claire wanted to get her this morning. Daisy escaped and found me working on the blog before the morning session of conference and cuddled with me! I consider myself a dog person but it was kinda nice to have a soft fluffy cat to pet, at least when she wasn't needing her claws into my shirt.

Shay

Her speech is what I am more worried about and I have a hard time getting her to say words right even when she says the sounds right. Claire did the same thing with a few words too so I'm sure she will catch on eventually, I just hope her missing tooth lets her! I've heard a more pronounced lisp that reminded me of the Music Man as I've been working with her. She is doing really well with the pencil when she practices tracing letters, but she is only even dedicated to her work when she will get something for finishing the page. The rewards are usually a coloring page we print out for her or sometimes a popsicle, but I'm trying to have her work on it at the same time Claire is doing her homework after school now so the reward is getting to play. We had a funny moment of Claire hiding because I wouldn't give her ice cream unless she ate her dinner and Shay was trying to comfort her and explain that it was important to eat her food first.