Happy Birthday Daddy!

Dad

He finally caught up and we are the same age again, two weeks is a long time for him to joke about calling me an older woman. On Thursday, Adrian and I took him out for a late lunch all the way to BWW because we've brought it home a few times and been disappointed with it getting cold over the 30-minute drive. Claire and Shay also claimed making him a birthday dinner when they went to bed on Wednesday and their plan was a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich with chocolate chips inside! Once it was made and on the plate, they thought about the healthy food and added carrots and a cheese stick. We had a few presents he got to open right before eating and most of them have to do with grilling so he can make more yummy food! We did a big grill day on Saturday where everything on the table was grilled; steak, salmon, mushrooms cherry tomato kabobs, corn, and asparagus. If only the girls would appreciate a delicious meal like that we would feel good about doing it, instead, they fight even trying it and we are left to enjoy it with our guest who came for the weekend to hang with Chris.

Kids

His first tooth came in on Thursday and Chris is calling it a birthday gift from Adrian. I'm now stepping up my feeding game with more types of food and seeing if he can grab them himself. He has been a little more fussy and not wanting to be put down, but that might be because he feels more alone with an empty house. Claire is enjoying school and making friends and we went to the store to spend her birthday money which she did in one trip! A new backpack and also a Bluey beach set was her choice and it was hard for her to not get Shay something when I said the expensive toy was going to take up all her money. I love that she wanted to make Shay happy too, but that's why we went to DI afterwards and they spent their allowance money. Shay has had some more behavioral problems that I got a call from the school about and we are working hard to find solutions to, but she will tell us she still likes school. I have noticed she often comes home with part of her lunch still in the lunch box so I might give her a little less so she has time to eat her carrots, the thing I want her to eat most!

Claire is 7!

 Claire

She has loved the attention her birthday has given her! She helped Chris make special waffles with lots of chocolate and butterscotch chips in them for her breakfast. After swim class, I let them stay extra extra long to play in the water, and then she picked what we ate for our meals, and got to play computer games forever. Usually, she is limited to an hour, and this is a new thing anyway that they barely know how to play because someone at the library was playing and they wanted to try a couple weeks ago. Shay was acting extra sensitive because Claire got special attention and I hope I taught her to be happy for other people instead, but I'm not sure how well it will stick. Claire even chose to wait for the party to open all the presents. She has been using them a lot since the party ended now though and she said her favorite is the scooter from Shay. 

Party

Way too early in the morning, I couldn't sleep so I started rearranging the house, filling up a room with 500 balloons, and setting up the present and activity tables. We rented a bouncy house with a water slide, played "pass the parcel" and another game with candy, opened presents, and then had snacks and cupcakes during the party. It was enough to keep them busy for a couple hours and Claire loved going from one thing to the next having fun. We even had two neighborhood boys tell us it was the best party ever the next day when we saw them. I'm glad we could make it a big fun day and we had enough people show up to make me feel like I could actually throw a party. She had some great gifts and did her best to say thank you with only a little reminder from me.

Shay

Kindergarten! She was so excited to meet her teacher on Monday and sleep with the 'jitter glitter' under her pillow so she wouldn't be nervous. I know I felt nervous because I wanted them to do amazing, but I wouldn't be there to help her. Luckily Claire is there to help while they ride the bus and find the teacher in the morning. Unfortunately, she has already had a bad time and I got a call on Friday about how she bit Claire on the bus and wouldn't sit down. Claire also explained she licked the window? I don't know how to make her understand that she needs to act better, but we will see how the next week goes. I like seeing the school work that gets sent home is activities she knows how to do easily because we've done them at home.

Adrian

The long quiet days of being at home are strange for me but I'm not sure if Adrian can tell the difference. Buttercup is more clingy and follows me with her eyes when she is too lazy or until I go upstairs out of her sight. She sits between Adrian and me and usually gets kicked as he wiggles around. She understands when it is time to go outside to walk to the school bus and is very excited, but also pretty patient surprisingly. Adrian is so calm for our walks and has only fallen asleep once when waiting for his sisters. As long as I keep him fed, he runs errands and hangs out until her gets tired and becomes ad at me for trying to put him to bed.

Birthdays Begin

 Water Park

Since it was the last week of summer, we had to do one more really fun thing which was Roaring Springs Water Park. It is only 25 minutes from us, and Claire earned a free ticket for reading during school last year. I hope they do that same program again this next year because then both Claire and Shay will get one. We were all very excited and the line at the beginning moved really fast so we got to sit down in a shady spot and start playing quickly. The water was a bit cold, and the breeze made the girls and Chris shiver and the one time we tried to get some water time with Adrian, he protested and didn't allow it. Just a small inconvenience that kept Chris and I apart as one of us watched him while the other went with the girls and then switched back right after. There were so many different slides and attractions that we tried to get to all of them, and the girls were tall enough for them. Now that we have been once, going again will be great, especially when Adrian gets to the point where he loves playing in the water.

Birthday

My birthday was sweet because Chris made the French Toast breakfast before he had to go to work, the girls said they would do whatever I told them to, and I even had fun with opening some presents. I had time to relax and do a new puzzle between the swim lessons, and gymnastics because I had finished other projects on Monday. I finished a pallet flag for the front porch I had been working on for the past two weeks, finished painting our patio out back, put lights and a misting system up after painting, and now I'm saving my strawberry runners. I noticed they have been outgrowing their space and I'm okay with them getting bigger because I love strawberries so now I have new pots to catch the new starts. I also had a nail appointment Saturday morning as a birthday gift, and Chris, Adrian, and I went on a date while a babysitter watched the girls. I felt very special and loved by my family and the girls just wanted to do everything with me so we had our own salon day this morning where I painted their nails, and Shay was a hairdresser for us.

Goodbye July

 Adrian

The smile on his face when he looks at Chris is just so heart warming! Adrian will stare at him when we eat because he hangs out in a bouncer when I'm cooking and at the start of dinner, but I usually pick him up by the end after I've gotten settled and he sits in the perfect spot to continue to stare Chris down! When they were hanging on yesterday, Chris taught him how to blow raspberries and got it on camera, so sorry it is blurry, but I'm sure it is only the beginning. His sleeping through the night and during naps have improved significately, but he doesn't like to be put to work rolling except when he is the happiest. It the perfect storm of finding the time to let him roll around, not too tired, not hungry at all, not gassy, and not being left alone. 

Claire

They are still loving swim lessons and going to gymnastics, but this was the last week of going to lunches at the park. We now only have a week and a half of summer left so I get to let the practice preparing their lunch in the morning and play school so they are prepared when it starts. There was an egg drop activity at the park this week that the girls both successfully protected their egg from the drop off of the firefighters ladder. They then brought the egg home and decorated them with markers and didn't want me to cook them for some reason...Hopefully they forgot about them for long enough because I did end up cooking them a few days later. Claire's date was with daddy and they worked out together in our workout room! I heard she was excited and tried to go too fast, but he taught her to breath and stay calm.

Shay

She expressed that she is actually a little worried about going to school, but we already practiced with her lunch set up to make sure she can open her drink, eat her healthy food before the oreo, and put it away. Now I just need to make sure they don't get too distracted while eating so they can actually fill their tummy. The school posted the teachers they will have, with the caviot that they are hiring more teachers and it might changed, but we found out that her teacher is in our ward! I hope that means Shay will be set up for a success and can learn how to behave nicely, wait in lines, and treat others with respect. I don't think there was a way to avoid her picking up habits that are associated with middle children

Projects

I feel like my list of things I want to work on around the house is pretty long at this point and I'm ready for school to start so I can have more time. Many of my hours are filled with doing homework, reading, taking them to the park and such. I might be just as busy if I get the job I've applied for, but maybe I'll have free time for a little bit so I can at least finishing painting the bottom of our patio. Some projects will be so much easier if Chris is motivated to help because he works really hard when he's motivated on the weekends. The evenings aren't great after a long day at work because he needs to be able to unwind and relax, or play with the girls and give them attention.