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 Adrian

Apparently I'm only good at taking pictures of Adrian these days! He is the one I spend most my days with sod it is a little understandable, plus I've had 6-8 years to get pictures of my other children so I'm just making up for it. He has started to fold his arms completely unprompted during prayers for dinner and then again at church today. I keep missing the one at dinner so I snuck a good one since he was sitting on daddy's lap. When I delivered him to nursery he closed the door on me! Just ready to go play and have fun without me because he is so independant I just follow him around while he adventures usually. Our trip to a gun store for daddy to get his gun worked on was right across the street from this fountain area and he had fun running around and getting splashed. 

Claire

She is really loving her new reading ability and I'm trying to encourage it as much as possible by getting her library books of her new favorite series. She can read it all on her own and if she is missing words she figures it out because I don't get her coming and asking what words are. I'm trying to find more that she will want to read after this series and still challange her so she can improve her skills. Being in 3rd grade means she will be required to do a lot more so I'm hoping she can catch up to her grade level quickly. We had a back to school night to talk to their teachers more about their expectations and stuff but it was hard to get a chance to talk since adrian just really wanted to run around. At least there were some papers I took home to read about the expectations. 

Shay

Her reading skills are still really good! I wrote her talk for church she gave today and there were only 5 words she couldn't read by herself. She is very confident in her school work but doesn't know how to listen and calm down when we were there for back to school night. I felt bad because all my kids were running around like little maniacs. We did get to see the family I met at the birthday party Shay went to a week ago and found out that they have a son in Claire's class too. He helped the girls make sure Adrian didn't run out of the room so he became a fast friend. They get to help entertain Adrian a lot and helped out this weekend when I started my Labor Day weekend project. I had it set up that he can't come intrude, but he needs his sister to make him happy playing so he doesn't just yell at me on the other side of this fence.

Celebrating Daddy

 Chris

Our last birthday for the month of August was this week, and now we are ready to break from presents and parties until the holidays. The girls invaded his room to sing happy birthday to him before they left for school in the morning, and I'm not sure if they woke him up or if he was already getting ready for work at the time, but he loved it. They made homemade cards to share with him when he got home on Friday, while I was making some wings for dinner as requested. I didn't have a main ingredient for breakfast the next morning, and he doesn't like to work out with a bunch of food in his stomach, so we did breakfast for dinner with his crepe request. Getting the Korean BBQ for my birthday weekend made this Saturday not feel as special, but he enjoyed the attention from his daughters, who kept making him choose things because it was his birthday. We are lucky to have him as our provider and protector. He matched Adrian really well today for church because I gave him a matching haircut, so now he is truly a mini version of Chris!

Kiddos

Saturday was pretty busy for the girls because Claire had a huge primary activity, and then Shay had a birthday party. Chris got to go shooting, which is usually all he ever wants, and I was able to get them where they needed to be when they needed to be there. We even had time to invite a neighbor over so the girls could become friends on Roblox with her before bedtime. Other than that, they have had a full week of school, and things are going really well. Still trying to not have to tell them to unpack their backpacks a million times after school, though. They are hot and want to relax and eat a snack right away, so I do the reminding several times before they get it done. They have made the decision they want to get up earlier to pack their lunches in the morning. It is slightly easier because they end up doing their snack, lunches, and putting everything in their backpacks instead of me doing that, but they get distracted easily, and I worry there will be a day soon that they run out of time...

My 8 Year Old

 Claire

What a fun week for Claire! She turned 8 on Wednesday and started school for her birthday! We also had some visitors on Monday and Tuesday before, because I'm starting to watch them for the day, and the girls loved playing with them. We went out for pizza on her birthday, and then the most exciting thing was her birthday party yesterday. She had planned everything we were going to do, so it was catered to kids her age. There was time playing outside with water activities, face painting done to the best of my abilities, painting treasure boxes and seashells, opening presents, and cupcakes. I'm very sad I forgot to take pictures of all the face painting I did before they started playing in the water, and half of them were ruined. At least one of the other moms sent me pictures of her kids to show off two of them for this record. I had this picture I put together of what I think I could do, and every kid said it looked good when I was done, so it was fun. But it kept me from meeting the other parents and being able to help facilitate the activities, so I'm grateful for helpful parents who stayed and helped!

Inspiration pictures vs my creations

Adrian

He had his first day of nursery today at church and was completely content, starting to play with the toys, and didn't fuss at all being in there. The leaders told me he looked around at all the adults like he was looking for me, but went back to playing when he didn't find me. It is better than being fussy and making it hard to say goodbye, and luckily, I can feel loved when he gives me kisses! We have a lot of fun at home now that it is just us, and 3 days a week, we will have new friends to learn to be nice to. Adrian doesn't hit hard, but he does still hit and throw things, so I need strategies to get him to stop. Hopefully, they will learn to play like he plays with his sisters because he doesn't hit them anymore. His back molars are mostly all the way grown in, and he was down to only overdrooling two days this week. 

Shay

She is better at being excited for her sister's birthday and wanting to let Claire have things because it is her birthday, which shows great maturing. Her first half week of school was super fun, and she was excited that some of her classmates were in her class. When we went to meet their teachers, it was hard for her not to be loud and excited, which everyone remembers her for in Kindergarten. Her energy is loud and proud! We went to the store on Friday night to get a birthday present for Claire, and it was very hard for her not to ask for things for herself. We got there though, and she only threw one tantrum about not being loved because I wouldn't buy her something too...yay.

Birthday

Birthday

The first of the many August birthdays in our family started this week and we celerated with a simple day on Friday accepting gifts and opening the packages that were sent from my family. I worked on a new puzzle and we went to the library for the last time this summer where I found another book to read. On Saturday the girls helped daddy make French Toast for breakfast and we all worked in the front yard to make it pretty weeding and cleaning. Then a babysitter watched and played with the kids so Chris and I could go for a temple and dinner date to a Korean BBQ place that was delicous. 

Adrian

Adrian gave me the best birthday present a 1 year old could ever give! He was sitting with me when Chris got home from work and I was puckering for a kiss and he leaned forward to give me a kiss because Chris was taking too long! I got a bunch of kisses because it became a game in the moment and Ive tried to recreate the game twice today but only got one or two kisses. His vacuum obsession is getting inconvient so I'm on the hunt for a toy vacuum that he can start using instead. I've vacuumed my room twice this week because he just continues to ask for playing with it and its the only room upstairs that stays clean of toys. Other wise, this little boy is just so cute, and he spent his last sunday with me in Relief Society being cute so he can go to nursery next week!

Ready

Claire and Shay are getting excited to start school and they think it is cool that it starts on Claire's birthday. They know the names of their teacher and we will meet them tomorrow and hopefully see some friends again if we are there at the same time. Claire is passing out her birthday invitations at church and will be taking them to school as well so hopefully we get a good amount of kids on Saturday to make her feel special because she is! Shay has some really fun ways of playing and was doing some things at the library that she wanted me to take pictures of and share with Daddy.

Summer is Slipping Away

Adrian

This has been a first! Adrian fell asleep while eating his lunch yesterday and it reminded me of when Shay did it when she was little. He must have been used to having a lot to do during lunch time when we eat at the park and the relaxing home lulled him to sleep. And now since this was the last week of lunches at the park, we have to be more entertaining without our friends we've made. The girls were learning a new dance this week from a movie they hadn't seen. It did cause a fun movie night with the neighbors on Friday so they could watch the movie for the song they were learning a dance to. For the next week, we just might go earlier in the day to other parks while it is still such a hot summer! The best times to be outside is the morning and evening right now.

Fun Times

There was a Relief Society lunch located at a pool so it felt like a big party. I was with Adrian the whole time making sure he was safe, but I got to talk with some of my friends. We've already talked about getting an above ground pool in our backyard next year because we have kids that love swimming so much and we aren't in a neighborhood with a pool. Already planning for next year's spring projects makes me miss the cool mornings that I had only a few months ago! Maybe I'm ready for Fall...and the girls to get back to school. They found out who their teachers are, but we haven't met them yet so we are looking forward to the school's open house. Hopefully they have some of their friends in class, or can make new friends and see old ones at recess. Claire finished the summer book she was working on as homework, so I'm glad I kept the workbooks she ended school with so we can find unfinished pages. I am still trying to motivate them to do homework in stead of play all day with toys and each other.