Gentleman

I learned a trick to get Jonny to hold someone's hand in the parking lot.

We tell him that Claire (or Jane or Audrey) is scared of the cars, so she needs him to hold her hand.
He always takes this request very seriously.  He hugs her, holds her hand, looks carefully around him for cars, then says, "Ok, come on, Cwaire."  She giggles and says, "Thank you, Jonny!"

CUTE!!

Delights

I have always wanted to display pictures of my "babies" somewhere in our home.  This little line-up makes me SO happy every time I see it.  Are they not the cutest and sweetest??

We took a weekend and went up to Rexburg to see the Hunt's (and stopped off to see the Grolls for a bit, too).  The kids LOVE to spend time with their cousins.  And grandpa's everywhere can really delight kids with their ingenuity when it comes to rigging up lawnmowers for play!

Audrey and Ashlyn.  :)  Cute girls.

Speaking of cute girls.  This was at Audrey's last activity days activity.  It was a mommy/daughter dinner and dance party (with Let It Go karaoke, of course).  Audrey was so cute, and she said it was the most fun she'd had.  In fact, the nachos we had that night were so good, we made them at home for dinner last night!  Watching this girl dance and sing and talk to her friends made my heart overflow.  I love her so so much!  And she's so big!  When did that happen!?

Surprise flowers from my mom!!  Is that not the sweetest thing?  And they're so pretty.  (And so is that sweet girl beside them.)

I did it!

Since I started the blog about nine years ago, I had the intention of printing it into books like this one.  And then, it just never happened.  The project got away from me, and it just seemed too overwhelming.  But after encouragement from friends and family, I did it.  It was a month-long project getting it ready (I had to re-do and re-post a lot of lost pictures and missed events), but I am SO HAPPY that I've done it.  The next books are just a matter of uploading and ordering since I've already reviewed the past posts.  Of course, continuing to blog is the most important thing!

I hope the kids appreciate this someday . . . ultimately this is for them.

Date with Jane

It was Jane's month in February to go out with me.  We had dinner at Gino's, and she was adorable.  We forgot to take a picture at the restaurant, but we did wanted to document our time together.

Afterward we went to Hastings where she picked out a book.  I LOVE HER!

Little Man

The men getting ready for church.

With his BFF.

I painted the girls nails, and he wanted in on the action.

After hosting preschool in which markers were involved.  He is a handful during our preschool co-op!!

"Take my picture!"

He's so sweet and tenderhearted.  He hurt her, and he felt bad.  He's the best at sincerely saying sorry.  He held her for a long time.

The Happiest Baby on the Block

She's a stander!

She's a smiler!

She's an eater!

She's a champion tooth grower!

This is a picture of her FIRST bedhead.  :)  She sleeps through the night, and wakes up happy.  What more could a mom want!?

This girl.  Where do I begin?  She's an angel.  I can't believe she's almost 10 months old!

Goofy Kids

Dressing up and looking good.

I asked Claire what the heck she was doing making a mess like that, and she said she intended to read all of those books . . . and that's why she got them out.  Hmm.

Claire's selfies.  :)

Audrey's selfie.  :)

Pictures from 2014

Jane on her field trip with her class.  She's on the left in the black shirt I think . . . the picture is a bit blurry.

The picture I promised would come!  The girls and I with Emmaline when we saw her in The Nutcracker before Christmas.

Current big "project"

I always get ideas and go on sprees on diverse topics.  Usually they rotate between fashion, homemaking, cooking, gardening, writing, parenting, etc.  No real, in-depth learning takes place.  Although, over time I suppose I've made major progress in these areas of interest.  Still, nothing really important has ever come from my casual curiosity.

About a month ago, I had an epiphany, though.  I was thinking about my education, how much I think about going back and getting a graduate degree someday, but that didn't seem like the most efficient way to get to the type of mastery I was looking for.  I had read an article about hacking your own education.  Since college degrees are so expensive, students have started putting together their own apprenticeships, so to speak.  They find mentors, they read a lot, and they have a lot of success, probably because it is specific to that person's interests and abilities, and it is all self-motivated.  Online learning is better than ever.  I began to realize that I could do this.

So, I sat down and made an ambitious list that included more serious topics that I wanted to deliberately study.  Then I carefully researched and chose course materials--books that I could find at the library, books I owned, The Great Courses lectures from the library, free online classes from Coursera and other sources.  Then I set up a method of practice, which usually just involved taking notes and writing about what I learned.  In order to give this deliberate study more direction, I chose a final project for each course so I'd have something to work toward.

This has been one of the most important "projects" of my life.  I have felt so good about myself.  I have learned a LOT!  And I can feel myself growing.  But the best part has been all the great ideas and books I've come across.  Things that have really changed my life.  The first course I put together was called Learning for Mastery.  This was a good one to start with, I thought, because it addresses my project directly.  I took a Great Courses lecture on Optimizing the Brain.  I read a book call Mastery by Robert Greene.  That book in particular has changed my life.  This idea that mastery is obtainable.  So lately, I've been thinking about my life, trying to decide where I want to put my deliberate practice toward mastery.

I've been listening to philosophy lectures and seriously reading books on science and finance.  I'm learning.  It feels great.  It's fun.  And I've noticed that all of the time wasters I turned to in the past have been replaced by opportunities to learn anything, even in small doses.  I watch a TED talk or read an NY Times article on the subject I'm studying.  I work on meditation and just take time to think about what I'm learning.  After all, I've learned that insight often comes during the "down time."  The fun part is that ANYTHING is material for study.

I don't know how long this drive to learn will last, but I'm surprised that it hasn't waned yet.  I would love to live the rest of my life with this passion for learning.  And I especially hope my kids learn how to embrace self-directed learning.

What saved me this winter

Winter has been sucky around here.  The weather hasn't been the problem, we've just been sick for a long time.  It was a huge bummer.  A couple of things have saved me, though.

1.  Library books

Since I discovered the hold service at the library, my life is about a million times better.  I have always been a big reader, but now I can stop wasting time reading random books that end up not being worth the time, and just jump right into the richness of my to-read list.  It's been a life-changer.

2.  Puzzles

Puzzles are for nerds, but since I happen to be a nerd, it's the perfect activity for me.  It helps that I'm SUPER good at puzzles.  I find putting together a 1000-piecer quite therapeutic.  It has to be pretty, though.  I prefer painted landscape scenes.  No kittens.

Rick Roll'd

I was fixing up the blog for print a few months ago.  I went through each post and removed old links, particularly dead links to videos that were no longer on youtube.  I was looking at one post that had links to videos of the girls, back when we lived in Ithaca.  The first one was supposed to be Audrey saying her ABCs, and the second one . . . was a Rick Roll!  I rick rolled myself!  It made me laugh out loud.

In case you don't know what I'm talking about, google it.  It's a thing.

Cute things

After falling sleep during a movie, then being called to dinner, Claire was a little grumpy: 

"Jane woke me up from my beauty sleep in the playroom!"

After talking with me about how big Darcy was getting Claire said: 

"It's a good thing the growing is quiet."

She was so brave when she got her shots.  And she knew she was and was so proud, it was cute.  She also drew a picture as part of her developmental check up and the doctor was SO impressed that he said he was going to keep it to show the other doctor.  The four-year-old drawing test is one of their favorites, and they see some pretty cute things, but nothing as advanced as what Claire did.  It was a self portrait with a detailed dress and a bow.  And she got a thrill out of the hospital gown they had her wear.  She was remarking on the differences between the one she has at home (from when she broke her clavicle) and the one she was wearing--like a little connoisseur.  :)  He told her to bend and touch her toes so he could check her spine, and she did it then said, "Like yoga!"  And when she stood back up, she swooped her arms around like a sun salutation.  Then she grinned at me shyly.  She's a quirky, cute, little thing.

Darcy found a sucker on the floor.  I thought she'd just found a sucker stick and was chewing on the end of it while she was hiding under the table, but when I pulled it out it had a whole sucker attached!  Boy, was she furious at me for taking it away!!

I like the Andy Griffith Show.  Sometimes I watch it while the kids play in the playroom.  Darcy LOVES the whistles during the intro.  She dances.  :)

Jonny peeled his own orange while I was on the phone.  I said, "Wow!  What a big boy!"  And he said, "I pilled my widdow cooty!"  (I peeled my little Cutie.)  They like that the oranges are called cuties.  

Audrey tried sarcasm out on me the other day.  I told her to go to her room and she said, "Fine!  You're a genius!"

Too Cool for School

I go on rants periodically about public school.  I'm naive in my rants, but I do get frustrated daily.  The homework, the lunches, the recess, the teachers, the lines, the desks, the curriculum . . . did I already say the homework?  I've toyed with the idea of homeschooling, but I don't think that's the answer either.  David and I have come to the conclusion that we're just going to have to teach them the things they miss at home, after school (which is another issue: they don't get home until 4:00) or over the summer.  And the experiences they have at school--nothing truly traumatic, just disappointments and frustrations--will be good topics for discussion.  They are learning despite everything.  The teachers are working very hard under crappy conditions (overcrowding and little pay), and we should try to work as a team instead of as opponents.

So, we work very hard.  And I try not to grumble.

Jane has been struggling with reading so much, that I'm beginning to suspect dyslexia.  She has many of the characteristics, but they don't officially diagnose it until third grade, which is two years away for Jane.  The biggest risk for dyslexic kids seems to be the labels they end up, not to mention discouragement.  I think we can avoid those with Jane.  She's a hard worker and a smart kid.

Claire is super excited for kindergarten next year.  They are offering full-day kindergarten next year, but unfortunately now we can't afford to do it.  I'm bummed about it.  BUT, it'll be ok.  She's doing reading lessons and is making fantastic progress, so she'll be just fine.

Audrey is a great student.  Her only problem is that she gets distracted with drawing.  There are worse things.  She's a good reader, she's making great progress in math with Dad's patient tutelage, and she is really into science.

All of the kids like school, and they have lots of friends.  Those two things make it valuable for now.