Improvements & Accomplishments

Things that happened this week: Connor started drinking from a bottle! This is a double yeah! Now I can feel a little more at ease leaving him with a babysitter, and it also gives me a break from one feeding a day. It's amazing what one less feeding does.
Megan & Bryson had their last swim lesson for this session, but will be doing 1 more month of swimming lessons before they start their soccer season. Here's Connor and Daddy cheering the kids on at their lessons.

At swim lessons Megan has mastered going up and down the pole. This has become her favorite thing to do at swim lessons.

We are so proud of Bryson this week! He went potty in the toilet twice this week, once by himself without any help! He seems to be getting a little more comfortable with wearing his big boys, but I don't feel like this long battle of potty training is ending any time soon. It usually is a battle to put the big boys on in the morning, but once they are on he's fine.

Josh and I also went in for our first eye exams. It was a crazy experience and we both came out of there getting fitted for some frames. Yes, we both need to get glasses. I feel a little weird having to get glasses. At least we are past the grade school teasing of "four eyes" and luckily neither of us are that bad off and have to wear them all day. I am near sighted and Josh is far sighted... the perfect pair! I'll have to post a picture once our glasses come in. (That really sounds weird to me. I thought that I wouldn't ever need glasses till I was "old")

Josh also scheduled his DAT for Thursday March 11th. So PLEASE PLEASE keep him in your prayers. We hope that he will perform well on the test so that he will be able to have good options if U of L doesn't accept him this year. Of course we really hope that he will score good and that U of L will accept him and end this constant repeat we have been living in. But if not he will be applying to multiple schools next year for possibly the last time. But we don't want to think about that yet. We are thinking positive and hoping for the best. Josh has been studying really hard and really deserves the best.

Eventful Weekend

Here is what we did this past weekend.

The kids made a tent in their bedroom and wanted to sleep in it.

The kids had swim lessons, but I didn’t take any pictures.  They are doing really well and loving it. 

Josh has been playing ‘Church Ball’ and the kids and I would go and watch him play.  This last weekend they had tournaments and so I brought the camera.  Our team lost so we only played one game, but it was always fun to go down and watch and cheer Dad on.

We also had a visitor this weekend…

The Tooth Fairy!

Megan pulled her 2nd tooth out on Saturday.  She wanted me to video it again like last time, so I started videoing and then she  changed her mind cause she couldn’t get it out.  But she kept working on it and pulled it out while I was cutting Josh’s hair.  She was so excited.  She was sleeping under her tent that night so I wrote a note to the tooth fairy and left it on Megan’s bed telling the tooth fairy to find Megan under the tent.  Megan was excited the next morning that the tooth fairy found her and didn’t forget.

My Kids

I don’t tend to brag about my children, but lately I have been feeling so much love towards them that I just wanted to express how WONDERFUL my children are.  Yes, they still fight, yell, and have to sit in time out, and Connor still cries and fusses.  I think that those moments help me realize what wonderful kids I do have when they are good.  I just want to share a couple of things that my kids have done recently that have really just touched me. 

Megan came home from school yesterday with a beautiful letter to me.  It read:

“Dear Mommy I love you sooooo much.  You look prity.  You are sooooo prity whin you go to potry’s (parties) with you’r frens.  I like helping you.  I feel happy win I help you. 

Love Megan Kelly

to Mommy kelly

It really made my day.  She also drew a bunch of hearts on the back that said I love you.   Megan really is a great helper and really tries to be good.  She has been doing excellent  at school, she’s a great reader and they have been starting to spell and she has been doing so good.  I am so proud.

Bryson has really been difficult lately.  He is at the stage of asking “why?” to EVERYTHING, and he has started calling names (even though they don’t make sense), and he is being VERY stubborn about potty training.  But when I need a hug or ask him to help he is right there.  He also will use some very sweet words telling me I’m beautiful, or that Megan drew a beautiful picture.  He is very sweet when he wants to be, and is always my best helper.  He loves to play with Megan and has been very cute learning how to sing his primary songs.

Connor is usually a happy baby.  He loves to laugh and smile.  He is constantly sucking on something.  He usually takes his socks off to suck on them.  He really can brighten my day with his smile or a laugh.  I love him so much. 

I really love each of my kids so much, it really is amazing how much love you can have for so many people.  I am so grateful for my wonderful kids and how they can simply show me their love at just the right moments.  I had to give some opening remarks in our relief society night last night and I found a quote that I feel is so true that I wanted to share…

“Recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments.  There will be hard times and frustrating times.  But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction.”  - Elder M. Russell Ballard -

I couldn’t have said it better.

Parent Swap

This past week we played a version of Parent swap. Josh went out to California to go skiing with his Dad and my Mom came out here to hang out with us.

My Mom came in town prepared to play with the kids. She brought so many fun things for the kids to do that they always had something to do. They did plenty of crafts and pictures and read lots of books. They had so much fun with Grandma we didn't want her to go home.
On one of the days my Mom was here we surprised Megan at school with lunch. She was so excited and it was fun to eat with her.


The next day we were snowed in and had a snow day. We received about 8 in of snow and the kids had a blast playing in it. Megan made her first snow man...

Went sledding out in the neighborhood...
My Mom even went to work and shoveled for us.

It was nice that Megan got 2 snow days while Grandma was here so she could hang out with Grandma more. When the kids were sleeping my Mom and I enjoyed watching movies, talking and watching a family history video that my Grandpa had made about our ancestors.

We LOVED having Grandma here and the kids all loved playing with Grandma. We really miss having family close, so getting 4 days with family was amazing.
Thanks Mom for coming out and making the time without Josh memorable


Josh's Ski Trip

Josh was very excited to be able to accompany his Dad on his yearly ski trip to Lake Tahoe. Their first day skiing they had gotten 6-10 inches of fresh snow and had a GREAT time skiing the fresh powder. The next 2 days they spent their days skiing and the nights sitting in the hot tub.

Before he left I kept bugging him to make sure that they took pictures. So I realistically thinking that I was going to get 1 maybe 2 pictures. So I just want to say THANK YOU to Josh's Dad for actually taking more than 2 pictures... and he even got some videos. Thank you!!

The kids and I were so excited to pick Josh up from the airport. There was several times that the kids would ask where Daddy was. Bryson I think had the hardest time. One night when we were reading scriptures with Grandma, we had finished reading and Grandma said "The End." and Bryson said... "No it's Daddy's turn!" So then I asked him where Daddy was. He then looked around and realized that Daddy wasn't there. Connor was really cute when he saw Daddy, he had to keep looking at him. It's like he realized that he knew who this person was but hadn't seen him for awhile, so he just kept staring at him.

So we were really excited to have Daddy home and back to our normal routine. But we were sad to say good-bye to Grandma. Thanks to everyone for making this happen, My brother and Sister for helping with the business so that Mom could come out. And thanks to Josh's Dad for taking him skiing with you to give a well deserved break from all of his hard work.

Just Need a Laugh

This was so funny. I had another video but it was longer and he sat and clapped during it, but this one just made me laugh more, so I thought that I would share. Enjoy Connor rocking out to the music, even tho you really can't hear the music... it's on. Once I turned it on he started rocking out.

New Pictures

I am so excited to get new pictures to put up on my wall. We have finally got Connor up on our wall with an updated photo of all the kids together. Now we just need a new picture our whole family. I just wanted to share.

Trying to get this picture took SEVERAL shots.

Connor was laughing the whole time during his shoot. We weren't going to get a picture of him but we just couldn't turn this one down.

I also wanted to share this cute picture of Connor sitting up. He's been sitting up all by himself lately. He looks so much older seeing him sitting. He sitll gets knocked over by his brother and sister, but he is so happy sitting all by himself and I am loving it too.