Week & Weekend

Emily is home sick with a cold this week with a fever, sneezing & sniffly nose and had an earache from sinus pressure at one point too. Lots of half used kleenex around the house, but she's pretty happy about lots of reading time.

The girls are working so sweetly together on Ashley's birthday invitations. Emily typed the info while Ash supervised. Ash is drawing with markers on one side of the cover while Emily is painting on the other side. They are each loving their art and they are singing a duet with lots of compliments and working togetherness. Maybe homeschool could work. Maybe.

Aaron is sick with an ear infection and will be headed to the Dr's in a little bit. Tonight we'll be headed to a bonfire with my mom's ward. Tomorrow is 2 soccer games back to back, friend's party for Ash, lunch field trip to Indian food for Em, a RS sewing project at the church, and a national book festival at the university- lots of fun choices of things so we'll see what we end up doing.

We are headed to Utah in a week and a half for spring break. Skiing, temple, friends, family, haircut and Dr appts are on the calendar.

We decided last week that we are going to be living in Utah for the summer and then headed back to Tucson again for next fall. Big decisions are tough. No matter what good choice you pick, you lose the good things that the other choice would have brought.

Ash rides her bike!

February 7, Tuesday afternoon. Another gorgeous day in Tucson.

Bryan outside with Ash, he asks her if she wants to take off her training wheels and she says okay.

In less than a minute she was riding like a champ. (Em & I inside doing science fair & Aaron napping)

The next day she rode the 1 mile to school with the family. She took almost no breaks and when I asked her if she was tired she said that the excitement of biking just kept her going.

Since then she's upgraded to a new helmet- the same design and size as moms. Most Wednesday mornings you can see between 3-5 of us biking our way to school. Way to go Asha!

Science Fair 2012

Science Fair for Emily was optional: either do a weather project due early Feb. or a science fair project due late Feb. She opted for the later due date thinking that sounded easy.

The first topic she picked was about fairy houses, then it was growing seeds. Finally she settled on What will happen when I blow on different lengths of straws?

It might not look like much, but this represents lots of work and patience. At first she was excited about it, then got way bored yet excited again at the end. The favorite part was where we tested homemade panpipes' pitches on the keyboard.

Next time I think she and I both would vote for the weather project, but are glad for the experience.

Aaron's Faces

Oh my boy Aaron. 2 years and 9 months old. He is a joy and a pain-depends on who you ask and at what time. He's been sick this last week and we are all grateful he's on the mend.

Sweet face. Emily is the photographer. And Aaron is posing so nicely b/c he knows she will let him see the picture immediately after she takes it. Silly Face. This is the one he knows how to make best. He really loves to make this face on Bryan.

Sleepy Face. Here he's in his new big boy bed. Whenever he is sleepy, riding in the car, sad, hungry, or being snuggled up you can almost bet he will have either hand in his mouth. Three fingers- which three depends on the hand. And if there is a long hair wound around his fingers he will be content for a long time. If there are two hairs the better.

Train/Truck/Car Heaven Face. This boy is a train-o-holic. One night while Daddy was reading to the girls, he and I made a huge track of cars. It lasted 5 minutes before being crashed.
Cheese face. Usually he isn't the happiest in the morning b/c he's tired, and the girls are getting more attention while they get ready for school. You can see Ash filling in her morning chart. But for the camera- cheese!

Lotion Face. After bath. Lotion within reach. My friend Lightening could use some cream- we are in a dry climate. After all, mom puts lotion on my cheeks. And Lightening (who robotically talks) loves to say "Not the Face!" so why not put lotion on his face.

It's a good thing he's so darn cute, talkative, and that he's my third because otherwise he'd be in a lot more trouble. Instead of putting him in time out a lot, he gets a lot of hugs. Daddy being home is another great other lap for sitting on.

I needed to buy new diapers at Costco. I figured Aaron's about 30-35 lbs. Size 4 (what I have been getting) is up to 35 lbs. Size 5 is 27 lbs+. I've never had a child of mine wear size 5 diapers yet, but I thought maybe they'd be fine, I was being a cheap-skate (b/c size 5 is .02 more per diaper) and really my son could use some more room. I bought size 5 Costco brand- kind with an elephant (which I thought was a little insulting so I checked size 6 dprs and was pleased to see a giraffe and not a hippo or pig). We loved the new elephant diapers and Aaron named the elephant Blumpo. He leaked out four times in a row. We are not a size 5 diaper family yet.

Fairy Houses

Last night we decorated fairy houses. Bryan and Emily bought the supplies a week ago and last night we started the painting.

Ashley's first house has a picket fence around it. She has another one she started working on that is mostly blue.

Emily's first house is kind of castleish on the top and she painted the inside all pink.

Since the paints are acrylic Aaron got to have Bryan help him out. He went for the multi colored look and since he was a little sick and Bryan likes neat lines, he didn't paint too much.

My job was to keep the paint pallet full, monitor the messes and take some pictures.

The plan is for the houses to go out back. The girls love fairies! Their favorites are the fairy books by Daisy Meadows and the Disney series.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Today the girls had an assembly at school. The theme was Dr. Seuss and the kids all got to bring their favorite book and dress as a Seuss character. Lunch menu: Green Eggs & Ham with M&M cookie.

Ashley is Cindy Lou Who from The Grinch. (Christmas bow, red outfit, two pigtails, fluffy socks)

Emily is a Which-What-Who from I Wish that I had Duck Feet. (Green Eggs shirt, whale spout, pipe cleaner antlers, shoelace tail)

Both were really happy about leaving for school and came reporting there were a lot of Things 1 and Things 2 around Wilson Elementary today.

Soccer Girls

The girls started their first soccer season Feb. 1st. They had one practice before their first game on Feb 4th. Needless to say, they are learning a lot!

For the first game Ashley tried a running position but at first felt more comfortable doing goalie, while Emily skipped and pranced around learning how to play mid-fielder. Both girls like soccer and are on a team of 10 kids- 3 boys and the rest girls, seven kids are on the field at a time. The season lasts 2 months. I like how Ashley is trying something new and working out how to be brave even though she doesn't always know what to do. I like how Emily is getting lots of running in because she doesn't always like to exercise but while chasing a soccer ball she has a good incentive.

The picture was during the first game as they are waiting their turn to go in. During the movie Aaron asks "Where's the shooting star?" He was seeing the airplane's long white tail in the sky and thought it was a shooting star.