I'm having a baby girl! We found out on Wednesday. We got a babysitter for Seth. And took the three older kids with us. They thought it was great. Danny was the only one who said he was a little sad at first about it being a girl, but now he’s excited. Aaron predicted it would be a girl because “Seth needs someone to dance with”. And Rachel is ecstatic. The first thing she said was “Yes! Now I’ll get a bunkbed.” Bob and I are also very excited. I'm excited to watch Bob with a baby girl again. He was so cute with Rachel. He was great with the boys as babies too, but he was just different with Rachel; he was wrapped around her finger. I think we'll name her Ruby.
We've all been sick this week. Rachel started last Sunday. Then it cycled through all of us throught the week. It was a bad stomach flu for about 24 hours, and then just some nausea for a few days after that. Rachel's has been on and off all week. I'm so ready for us all to be healthy!
Bob and I went on a date for our Anniversary last night. We went to the baptism of a new Beehive girl and then we went to PF Changs for dinner. It was nice. We already did our big celebration at the coast a few weeks ago.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
June 20
Last weekend we were in Visalia again. We went almost two weeks ago and dropped the kids at my mom's. The Bob and I drove to San Luis Obispo for two nights to celebrate our anniversary. We stayed at the Apple Farm. We slept in and ate breakfast in our bed. We went to the grocery store the first night and Bob found 30 day-old donuts for $3.00. He was so excited. We ate at good places. We went to Morro Bay and Cayucous and the Montanna de oro state park. It was pretty cold and windy while we were there. It was a good relaxing trip. And the night before we left, Bob and I went up to St. George to see Cats at Tuacahn. That was really fun too. We had a lot of driving that week.
The kids did swimming lessons last week and will do one more week this week. Rachel is really figuring it out and can go in the deep end now. Aaron still refuses to do much, but at least he likes it. And I thought Seth would be really hard on the side, but he's been great. Seth really likes to wander off. The other kids would wander, but when they got so far, they'd know to come back. Seth doesn't have that. He just runs and runs.
I've been working a lot on my websites. I have a pretty good schedule down. I play with the kids and do the housework and then the kids all know that while Seth has his nap, that's when I work on my websites. It's been working really well so far. We also started a new job system. The kids still have to get dressed and make their beds and brush teeth, but now they have 2 house cleaning jobs a day since it's summer and they have more time. They get paid $.50 if they do all their jobs. We used to pay $.10 for each job. Their new job is that they have to pick up one assigned room every day. I'm loving it. I just can't keep up with the clutter and toys of four kids. So it's making such a difference to have them help.
I took Aaron back to see Paula at LDS services. Aaron really likes to go. He really seems relieved that there's someone who can help with his tantrums. He realizes that they are really bad things and he doesn't know how to stop them. I think he's been getting a little better since going. The biggest thing that helps is having talked about what's going on in the tantrums beforehand and then being able to have words Aaron understands when he's having the tantrums.
We went to the Circus yesterday. The kids all thought it was great. They'd seen the commercials and really wanted to go. It was a little long for them, but other than that it was fun.
Today is Father's day. We made bacon and eggs and sausage for breakfast. Then Rachel was sick, so Bob stayed home with her and I took the three boys to sacrament meeting. I just chased Seth around the halls the whole time. Then I brought him home to have a nap and went back and taught Beehives. We got Bob a fondue pot for father's day. The kids wanted to get him a chocolate fountain, but I didn't want to have to clean it up, so we decided on a fondue pot. So we'll use that later today.
The kids did swimming lessons last week and will do one more week this week. Rachel is really figuring it out and can go in the deep end now. Aaron still refuses to do much, but at least he likes it. And I thought Seth would be really hard on the side, but he's been great. Seth really likes to wander off. The other kids would wander, but when they got so far, they'd know to come back. Seth doesn't have that. He just runs and runs.
I've been working a lot on my websites. I have a pretty good schedule down. I play with the kids and do the housework and then the kids all know that while Seth has his nap, that's when I work on my websites. It's been working really well so far. We also started a new job system. The kids still have to get dressed and make their beds and brush teeth, but now they have 2 house cleaning jobs a day since it's summer and they have more time. They get paid $.50 if they do all their jobs. We used to pay $.10 for each job. Their new job is that they have to pick up one assigned room every day. I'm loving it. I just can't keep up with the clutter and toys of four kids. So it's making such a difference to have them help.
I took Aaron back to see Paula at LDS services. Aaron really likes to go. He really seems relieved that there's someone who can help with his tantrums. He realizes that they are really bad things and he doesn't know how to stop them. I think he's been getting a little better since going. The biggest thing that helps is having talked about what's going on in the tantrums beforehand and then being able to have words Aaron understands when he's having the tantrums.
We went to the Circus yesterday. The kids all thought it was great. They'd seen the commercials and really wanted to go. It was a little long for them, but other than that it was fun.
Today is Father's day. We made bacon and eggs and sausage for breakfast. Then Rachel was sick, so Bob stayed home with her and I took the three boys to sacrament meeting. I just chased Seth around the halls the whole time. Then I brought him home to have a nap and went back and taught Beehives. We got Bob a fondue pot for father's day. The kids wanted to get him a chocolate fountain, but I didn't want to have to clean it up, so we decided on a fondue pot. So we'll use that later today.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
June 6
The kids are all out of school for summer! They had their last day on Wednesday. Danny and Rachel both got awards for getting all A's all year. And Danny got the Library award for having the most AR (Accelerated Reader) points in the whole second grade. They're points for reading books and taking tests on them. He got that award in first grade too. He had so many points this year because he read five Harry Potter books this year and those are really more of at least a 4th grade level book. We're so proud of both of them. They're also keeping up piano lessons for most of the summer. Danny likes it, but Rachel loves it. She sits down at the piano for at least an hour a day. She's doing really well.
Aaron and I went to LDS services this week to talk to Paula about his tantrums. He was excited to go. He recognizes that his tantrums are bad and he'd like help to get rid of them. We had a really great session talking about things he could do to fight the "Anger Germs" as he calls them. But, in practice it's so much harder to fight those tantrums than when we were talking to Paula about them. So he's still had plenty of tantrums this week, but it does seem to help talking about what Paula told him when he's in a tantrum. He's better able to calm down since we've talked about it more beforehand. Hopefully we'll continue to make progress.
We introduced the bucket system last week too. We're using dimes for good and pennies for bad. The kids seemed totally on board and it worked like a dream that first day. Until Danny got his first penny. He went ballistic. He's had tantrums every day--I hope it's just him adjusting to being out of school and the heat or something--but they get worse when I tell him he gets a penny. But I think in the end the system will be good. Either way, I'd need something or I think Danny's tantrums could get worse.
Bob and I are going on a trip to San Luis Obispo this week. My mom is going to watch the kids and we're staying for two nights. We're really excited. And we're starting out our celebration early by going to see Cats at Tuacahn before we go. I've always wanted to see Cats, so we thought this would be a great way to see it.
Aaron and I went to LDS services this week to talk to Paula about his tantrums. He was excited to go. He recognizes that his tantrums are bad and he'd like help to get rid of them. We had a really great session talking about things he could do to fight the "Anger Germs" as he calls them. But, in practice it's so much harder to fight those tantrums than when we were talking to Paula about them. So he's still had plenty of tantrums this week, but it does seem to help talking about what Paula told him when he's in a tantrum. He's better able to calm down since we've talked about it more beforehand. Hopefully we'll continue to make progress.
We introduced the bucket system last week too. We're using dimes for good and pennies for bad. The kids seemed totally on board and it worked like a dream that first day. Until Danny got his first penny. He went ballistic. He's had tantrums every day--I hope it's just him adjusting to being out of school and the heat or something--but they get worse when I tell him he gets a penny. But I think in the end the system will be good. Either way, I'd need something or I think Danny's tantrums could get worse.
Bob and I are going on a trip to San Luis Obispo this week. My mom is going to watch the kids and we're staying for two nights. We're really excited. And we're starting out our celebration early by going to see Cats at Tuacahn before we go. I've always wanted to see Cats, so we thought this would be a great way to see it.
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