More Sophie and Rhys Quirks

Just look at those cuties!  The weather has been here and there but we have been able to get out to the parks more often. Here they are with Batgirl and Supergirl--a great snapshot from my best bud.

Sophie's teacher has finally told us what we already know about our daughter.  She is active, curious, spontaneous, and daydreams.  Sometimes these strengths get in the way of retaining information and completing assignments. 

We are working together to help her do her best.  We have suggested they use a visual timer to help her stay on task.  Sophie proudly announced that she "beat the worm!"  Sharing her enthusiasm we had come to find that her teacher had given her a timer that is an apple with a worm timing hand. Way to go Sophie! 

Mom is really trying to give Sophie what she needs as her personality is constant and sometimes demanding as I have my own attention difficulties.  I am finding that she and I both benefit a ton from cuddle time when we are putting her to bed.  Lots of time for chat, songs, and being okay with each other.  She really needs it to feel centered at the end of the day.  Also I am trying to loosen up and not take things so serious with her but at the same time keep our routines.  That can be a bit of a balancing act but I think as long as she sees me trying, even little changes will bring us to a better place.  I am trying to recognize the frustration in her eyes and respond with compassion rather than all the other easy choices. It's a work in progress.

Our family is all about numbers right now.  To help Sophie along in school we have been identifying numbers up to 100 in our environment--speed limit signs, the ID numbers on school buses, etc. 100 is a very cool number.  The coolest, in fact.  Whenever we see it or have a chance to use that number, life is pretty nifty.  For example, when it was time for Rhys to leave the park, I gave him the heads-up, "Two more minutes!" To which I often get his attempt to negotiate, "No! One huuuuuundred!” Get your tush in the car, cutie!

Our new minivan came with XM radio which we will get to enjoy just a little while longer.  There is quite the variety of music and talk radio out there.  However, we have come to find that Sophie is quite the Bluegrass fan.  That girl loves her some banjo. Can't say that I blame her though.

Sophie is not the only one that needs extra help.  We are trying to help Rhys increase his social/emotion skills.  He throws a fit with so little warning that we have really had to emphasis "using our words" which does not come easy to this boy with speech impairment.  Lately we just calmly say "Let's just talk this out" real slow even if he is already tantruming.  Do you know how hard it is to say that calmly and softly and slowly when he is screaming so flipping loud? You guessed it!  Yes, really hard. 

If that doesn't work we provide visuals to help him know what to expect.  Like every morning we see if the PB and J sandwich is crossed out or not, indicating weather he gets his favorite sticky lunch or not that day.  It's been working.  He even announces this to his half awake sister in a most cantankerous manner, scowling and wagging his finger, "No pea-ut bu-er and day-ye sanwis!"

Keri is also playing more board games with him so he can get desensitized to losing.  This one isn't so bad because it is actually fun to play with my son.  We are also reading him social stories to help remind him how to be the "Super Friend" he is.

At the same time, we are trying to help our kids to see outside themselves which can be a new idea when so young.  Trying to let Sophie decide to donate old, cherished clothes is one choice she made right lately.  And we were glad that JustServe.org had an opportunity for our family to do a service project together.  The Salvation Army has asked for lunch sacks to be donated, decorated, and inserted with an encouraging note for the hundreds of lunches they provide to the hungry each day.

We have been using paint daubers or bingo paint markers to decorate 100 sacks!  It is fun, easy, and very therapeutic for mommy.  It gives lots of chances to talk about others and ways we can help.  We look forward to turning all 100 sacks in soon!

As part of a community and school based program, we are trying to do a couple more things to keep us healthy.  We are picking up trash, trying new sports, and planning healthy meals as a family to name a few.  This week, Sophie worked with me to plan a meal she was interseted in eating, was healthy, and simple enough to make.  With moderate to minimal assistance she picked, washed, chopped, dried, grinded, used the Kitchen Aid, poured, sprinkled, kneaded, rolled, spread, and baked!  We had a delicious whole wheat pizza crust topped with Neal's red sauce, cheese, spinach, and black olives with a green salad on the side.  Way to go, cutie!

Joy

Happiness is watching my 3-year-old son experiencing the whimsy of fluffy dandelions.

Family Home Evening ROCKS!

I just want to shout to world and even to myself, when I am feeling tired or lazy, that "Family Home Evening (FHE) ROCKS!" We have diligently tried to make this short activity a part of our weekly routine over the past few years with a lot of success.  We love it!

Family Home Evening is a special time set aside each week that brings family members together and strengthens their love for each other, helps them draw closer to Heavenly Father, and encourages them to live righteously. As parents, it gives us another opportunity to teach our children the principles of the gospel and usually includes a short lesson, fun activity, prayer and song. We love it and consider it VERY VALUABLE.

I love that we are teaching our kids what is important as a human being and a son or daughter of God, not just reinforcing academics taught at school (although we do that too).  Our lessons are as short as our children's attention spans and we sometimes sing the ABC song as our opening song, but we are doing it and it is great.  Our Sophie is asking better questions.  We have opportunities to apply what we have learned to real life during the week.  FHE, along with family scripture study and prayer keeps us learning, discussing, and living the gospel better everyday, not just Sundays.

I am truly thankful for this inspired program.

Wisdom

"Moms are great like super heros!" - my 5-year-old, Sophie

Easter Celebrations

We enjoyed Easter week with activities, both secular and religious.  We read parts of Christ's last week throughout the week and post related pictures on the playroom wall so the kids can see them often and hopefully ponder on what we are teaching them. We started this tradition last year and were very pleased.  You can read about the specifics of it from our 8 Apr 2012 post, Easter Week.

Sophie is really fascinated with the Crucifixion of Christ. She says it is her "favorite part" and we are not sure why.  We ask her why she "loves the crucifixion" so much, as she is all smiles about it.  We explain that it was very hard, even painful what Christ endured.  She says she loves it "because Jesus loves us."  Well, we can't argue with that but we thought the resurrection would be more understandable for someone her age to rejoice over.  We just try to teach what is truly important to our kids at a level they can hopefully understand and with the Holy Ghost present so they can feel God's love and recognize eternal truths. Check back with us in 5 years and we'll see how it's going.

Other fun family traditions include egg dying and goodies from the Easter Bunny.  This year we twisted rubber bands on the eggs before immersing them in the dye solution.  It was a cool outcome.  I am pretty sure egg dying is still primarily for us parents as we really enjoy it.

We got a package from Nonnie and Papaw, the kids' great grandparents through Becky, Neal's step-mom.  The kids had a blast going through all the goodies. 

And Keri made and gave a few springtime goodies away this Easter as well.  Inside the flower pot with saucer lid is a bag of potting soil and a packet of marigold seeds.

Friday, we took off to West Monroe, LA to spend time with Nonnie, Papaw, and Becky's siblings, Denise and Paul and their families.  The drive out was gorgeous while it was still light.  LA is a lot more lush than the plains we have in the Dallas area. The dogwoods and redbuds were all in bloom, spotting the woods with color. When it became dark we gave the kids glow sticks to play with until they nodded off to sleep. We made it to the hotel - Sophie was quite happy about this.  She loves hotels.

The next morning, while we were downstairs for breakfast, the Easter Bunny came and left Sophie and Rhys cool Superman and Supergirl T-shirts, a no-spill bubble bucket with wands, and eggs filled with sugarless gum. 

It rained quite a bit on Saturday but we had a great time catching up with everybody. We ladies escaped to get pedicures, while the kids were left to their Easter basket goodies from family and the men, who later got everyone out for a walk when the clouds cleared. We spent Saturday evening at Nici's (Denise) house eating, talking, and having a glow-in-the-dark egg hunt, she put on.  That was pretty cool, I have to say.

On Sunday, we attended church and learned that the man that Forrest Gump's military life was based of off in the movie, Sammy Davis, was present being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He had earned a Medal of Honor.  We did not stop and chat about it with him because that was obviously not the focus his or our church going experience.  Just interesting.

After more time with family and some awesome roast, we had to say our good-byes and begin our journey home.  It was a great weekend.  They are such a great family and we always feel welcomed and enjoy them.  I hope they know how much we love and appreciate them as well.

Youth Activity Centered on Christ's Atonement

This was a busy month for me as I usually have an adult advisor to help plan and carry through youth activities.  However, during the month of March I had not been blessed with Karyn yet.  She will start to work with me in that capacity starting April. 

One of the activities was for all the Young Men and Young Women of our congregation (ages 12-17) and I wanted it to be centered on the Atonement of Jesus Christ as that has been specifically what we have discussed in our Sunday classes in March.  But I wanted it to be fun and the putting fun and the reverence of the subject together was tricky but turned out great.

We had Bro. Bennion share his talent of working with materials to create beautiful writing pens.  He talked about what he looks for, what he does, and even demonstrated a bit.  The idea shared was that Bro. Bennion was able to create a thing of beauty by recognizing it's potential and taking it through a process.

Then we introduced the active part of the activity.  With some artful sculpting knowledge now in mind, we had the youth split into groups to ice cream sculpture.  They had a 5 minute planning session and then they were given two blocks of ice cream and access to a myriad of candies and decorations.  With gloves their very cold hands created memorable masterpieces.

Angel Moroni won most realistic

After judging was completed and winners announced, the youth served themselves from their sculptures and sat and ate while Bro. Bennion, likened the activity to our Savior's Atonement.  First, He sees our potential and is in the process of creating a masterpiece of each of us.  Our job is to stay out of his way (align our will to His).  He is taking away sin and sculpting us. His grace strengthens and helps us in our areas of weakness (molding us).  This is quite a process and although parts can happen over night, most of this takes quite a bit of time.  In the end we become sanctified, something wonderful, and prepared to live with our Heavenly Father.  He also quoted one of my favorites from C.S. Lewis that included in our 14 Dec 2009 post, "You are a Living House."

Overall, the youth had a fun time, did some good pondering and discussion on the Atonement, and hopefully walked away with a stronger testimony and perhaps a belly ache.

St. Patrick's Day Jollies

This year Sophie gave a lot of input on how the Leprechaun trap should be constructed.  We decided as a family that if we used duct tape and turned it sticky side up that the wee green fellow might step on it and get, well, stuck.  Sophie, who loves hotels passionately now that we have been on a few family trips, decided that a hotel was just the thing to lure in our leprechaun.  She made a Hotel sign and we posted enticing banners reading "soft beds" and "free breakfast" to draw him in.

Sadly he thwarted our efforts AGAIN!  So disappointing.  But we were easily distracted by all the mischief he left behind: unscrewed light bulbs in the dining room, Sophie's and Rhys' clothes hanging in each other's closets instead of their own, green milk and oatmeal, the car was parked sideways in the driveway, rainbow paper chains in the living room and coloring book pages colored green, and messages on their bathroom mirror. Craziness we tell you!

Keri puts a few drops of green food coloring in the bottom of their cups the night before so that when she pours the white milk in front of them they are in awe of the green results.

Both wore a bit 'o green to church that day and happily no one was pinched.

Maybe next year we'll be lucky!

Grandma Visits During Spring Break

Keri and the family were very happy to have Judy, Keri's mom, come out to visit for two weeks, one of which was Spring Break for the kids.  We enjoyed some great weather and made it out to the zoo by train. It sure wore out the kids.  We saw some large turtles for the first time.  That was awesome.  And two zebras "horsing around." We packed lunch and stayed until it got warm and the kids were done.

We also made it to an activity provided by a local library.  The kids were let loose in a taped off parking lot and given sidewalk chalk galore and bubble juice aplenty.  Sophie made a huge bubble with a rope wand.

 We also had a great Family Home Evening playing at the park using one of the Christmas gifts from Oma and Opa--the giant inflatable Giga Ball!

Grandma took the kids on walks, read to them, made origami creations for them, and kept them pleased with a steady supply of treats during her visit.

After the kids went back to school, Keri and her mom spent more time shopping, chatting, and just enjoying each other's company.  We also got Mom hooked on "The Big Bang Theory" series as we had borrowed previous seasons and watched many episodes while she was here.