Avery's Two Favorite Things

Avery LOVES, ADORES, is EMOTIONALLY ATTACHED to two things in life:

Her "Straw Jammies" (strawberry jammies) and her "Sleep bag". These poor jammies are so loved, I often have to wash them without her knowing and have them back in her room for the evening. There have been times in the middle of the day that we reward her for things she's done well by letting her put her jammies back on after lunch. When she's not wearing them all day long, she never has to be asked more than once to go get ready for bed. Often she will run in her room yelling, "Yeah!!!! Straw Jammies!!!" Life is so simple for a two year old.

As for the "sleep bag". We got this for her earlier this past April when we were heading down to Moab for the weekend. Her brother had a sleeping bag, so we thought she needed her own as well. Little did we know that this poor bag would never be tied up again. It is dragged around everywhere, cuddled with each night and movie time, and usually ends up wherever Avery is going. When she's sad, tired or in trouble, the tears start out and then it's "My Sleep Bag... I need my sleep bag!!" It's cute she has a comfort blanket... just wish it wasn't so big! I've finally figured out it is more effective to put "sleep bag" in time out when she does notty things instead of putting HER in time out! It's amazing how much better it works.

Goin Shishin with my Daddy

Avery was so excited to spend a day out with dad last week. She has been asking to go "shishing" (fishing) and was thrilled that today was the day! She was running around the house collecting different things that she and Brian would need. She would have nothing to do with me because she thought I'd make her stay home I guess. They had a great time catching worms, going to the pond and then out to lunch just the two of them. When Avery got home, she said, "the shishies ate all my worms!'. She hasn't stopped talking about shishing with her daddy since.
As I look at this little moment in time, it makes me realize the power of a few moments. The hour and a half Brian took out of his day was the highlight of a two years olds day, week.. even month! So little time out of our busy schedule to make time for a child can be life changing. They sense when we are "too busy"... but do they really understand that? What does too busy mean? Looking at it right now (when I'm not stressing out about all the zillion things I have to do today) I ask myself... WHY are we too busy for a few moments with our kids? NOTHING is more important than giving them our time. They should NEVER have to hear, "I'm too busy to come out and play right now". What in our homes is so important that we can't take 10 minutes to go throw a ball around? The dishes? The vacumming? Laundry? Phone Calls? The computer? All those things can wait. But the way our kids see how we manage our time with them will not. They quickly learn where our priorities lie, and I hope with me...I can show them my priority is with them.
I am lucky to have such a great example of this quality in my husband. Brian is so good about making special time with each kid. Our family is so blessed that he sees the importance in making these "special moments" count. My kids have such a wonderful relationship with their dad because he spends time with them. I hope moments like this will be something that they will continue to do into adulthood.

A birthday Note to Kaden

Dear Kaden,
Today you turned 5 years old. I can't believe you are so grown up! You are the sweetest little boy I know. Your smile and sparkle in your eyes makes me the happiest mom in the world.
This year you LOVE many things that are all "BOY". You love rockets more than anything else. This past year you have learned how to build model rockets with your daddy and that is your FAVORITE past time. You enjoy building them, but you enjoy launching them even more. You know eery engine and which one to use for each rocket. You are still a little afraid of the noise when they blast off, so your dad always plugs your ears while you count down.
You are in your last year of preschool and are learning so much. You are a hero to your little sister Avery. She wants to do everything you do. Even though she is a "princess" in a lot of ways, she'd rather be shooting guns and playing swords and rockets with you. She looks up to you so much and you are a great example to her. I hope you will always be great friends. You also love spending time with baby Brighton. You are my BEST helper with him! You love to crawl in his crib and try to make him laugh when you are suppose to be asleep in bed. I'm sure this is only the beginning of many late nights having fun with your brother. Little Brighton laughs for you more than anyone else in the family.
As for me, I am so happy to be your mom. You brighten my day and help me with so much. I am so proud of the little boy you are becoming and sometimes find it hard to believe that my little baby Kaden that we waited so long to get to us is now 5 years old. You have the most special, tender personality of anyone I know. You always make people feel happy because of your kindness and your ability to talk with others. You are kind and loving, and I especially love that you still want to sit and cuddle on the couch with me every once in a while.
Your daddy also loves you so much. You get to do a lot of fun things with him all the time. You love to have "boys only" adventures where there are "No Girls Allowed!". You are so blessed to have a father who spends so much time with you. I hope you become just like him when you grow up.
You are the greatest little dude I know! Happy Birthday Kade!!!

First Day of Preschool

Kaden started preschool today. He gets to go with his cousin so it makes it even better. When we got into his class, he said to his teacher, "Hey Miss LaDawn.. I haven't seen you in a long time". I'm sure he's going to have a great year, he couldn't wait for school to start. Now if I could only bottle that and save it for when he's going into 8th grade and not excited anymore!

Rocket Party

While I was at girls camp, my dad had a "rocket party" for all the grandkids over the age of 4. Kaden (a little obsessed with rockets right now) was in charge of "teaching" everyone how to launch a rocket. They had a wonderful night full of rockets, awards, treats and prizes!!
I am so grateful to have such a great family who makes special time to participate in my kids interests. Brian's parents do this all the time as well. I am very blessed.

Girls Camp - Bluffdale Idols.. Rockstars for Truth

A day and a half after our St. George trip, off I was to Girls Camp... (whew!! What a busy month!).
Girls camp, as always was awesome!! We had an amazing time at the Heber Valley Camp that is designed for LDS young women in mind. We slept in cabins, had running water, refrigerators, running water, showers, and a covered pavillion... ya... I know, it was rough!, but SO MUCH FUN!!
As I've been thinking about girls camp, I thought it would be entertaining to point out why girls camp is SO MUCH COOLER than scout camp.

#1- We have a camp theme! (This year we based our camp on American Idol- each group of girls were broken up into different music genre's.)

#2- We do crafts... ok.. usually, I think this is a little cheesy, but hey, it's part of girls camp. We made "Rock Stars" (people out of rocks) but I spiced things up a little bit and made a rock princess and a "rock"et for my kids.

#3- Skit night... (Always a highlight) Instead of skits this year, we put on our own "Bluffdale Idol" night. We even had our own Ryan Seacrest, Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell. They did their parts perfectly! The girls and leaders needed to re-write a song from their given genre and sing it at our Bluffdale Idol competition.
This was a highlight of the whole camp. My stomach was sore from laughing so hard.

#4- No peeing in the fire

#5- Girls stay up late, paint nails, braid eachothers hair and sleep as many as they can in a twin size bunk just for the fun of it!

#6- Gotta have the secret sister gifts!! This year the leaders were getting mysterious "gifts" on our beds. When we opened them, they were random feminine hygene products. We kept blaming a couple of the "wilder" leaders, but to no avail.. they'd never give in. Later we found out that one of the girls had given us the gifts. It was pretty funny.

#7- Faith promoting hikes and other experiences-
We went on an incredible hike (which I'll share in a later post)

#8- Awesome food... So this camp was a little different than most. The food was great and healthy as well. We snacked on chocolate of course, but we also had tortilla's and hummas, fruit, veggies, and all sorts of hidden healthy foods in all our meals.

#9- The leaders are just as goofy as the kids (who knows... maybe scout camp is the same on this one)

#10- Girls can't go to girls camp without decorating their sleeping quarters and their tables for dinner time. It's always very festive.

Here are just a few of the fun things that took place. It was a great week.

St. George

A few days after we got home from Bear Lake, we dropped the kids off at Grandma's house and headed down for a much anticipated weekend with my family. The best part... NO KIDS ALLOWED!! For Christmas last year, my parents gave us a "Christmas in July". They got all 6 of us kids, our spouses and themselves a weekend away to St. George including tickets to Tuachan to see Les Miserables.. (Incredible production by the way), we chilled at the Marriott for three days and had fun shopping, eating, going to a movie, golfing, and hanging by the pool. It was such a fun weekend. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!
I hope this becomes a yearly tradition.