Kids

I just wanted to write down a few things about my kids so I could remember it for the future!

Ava:

• Such a goof!  She basically always looks like she's doing something naughty and is super proud of it.  And when she is doing something naughty she has a certain laugh she always does that make me laugh and so I can't get mad at her!
• Has spent a good portion of the last month sick.  We all have, but especially her.  It's been a tough winter already. :(
• Loves to run around the house at full speed!  I can always tell when it's her coming down the hallway.  She doesn't do things half way!
• Constantly pushes things around the house.  Her favorite thing is my laundry basket.  She loves having the hard floors so she can do this.  She also pushes chairs, step-stools, boxes, and their big toy car around.
• She is so full of life and joy!  Except when she isn't.  She tends to run hot and cold and has been like that since she was a newborn.  The other day I had to run something in to the office at one of David's schools and had to take all the kids with me.  Luckily I got to park on the opposite side of the building so I got to walk all the way through to get to the office.  On the way down the hall Ava was yelping and laughing because she loved the echo!  And there's a big hill in the hall that she thought was AMAZING and so fun to walk up and down!  What she did not love was when I made her leave the hill.  She threw a tantrum so hard that I couldn't even hold her because of all the thrashing.  I had Asher try to get Mia to walk down the hall, but because Ava was screaming it upset Mia and she cried too.  This was all while the janitor was standing in the hall watching and classrooms were full of students.  I tried to get out of the building as fast as I could, but the last 20 feet was me holding a crying Mia and dragging Ava out of the building by one arm.  But then we'll be in church and she will be laughing hysterically while trying to jump over things on the floor!  She definitely keeps me on my toes!
• Whenever she poops, she'll come up to me and hold her diaper while saying "poop".  Asher didn't start doing that until he was about 3....
• Screams all the time.  Happy, sad, excited, hungry, frustrated, it doesn't matter!  She is always screaming.
• Such a Daddy's girl!
• Does NOT like nursery.  Or babysitters.  Or new people in general.  This is something that all my kids have trouble with, although Asher is so much better about it now.  I'm hoping that now they're in nursery and we're going to have to use babysitters when we have rehearsal that she'll get more comfortable with it.
• Just a fun girl that I love to watch and play and talk with!

Mia:

•  Still sucks her thumb, but only when she's tired.  I will probably have to address that soon, but I secretly love it because I think it's so cute...
• My little mommy.  If she finds a diaper or garbage on the ground, she'll bring it to me and then walk me to the garbage.  If I forget to put a bag in the garbage can, she'll stay there and grunt until I change it.  LOVES babies and cuddles all her dolls.  If she sees me cleaning things up, she'll start cleaning too.  If she has a runny nose, she'll get a wipe and give it to me and point at her nose.  If she finds a bow on the ground she'll give it to me and then pat Ava's head so I can put it on her.  Stuff like that all day long!  She has caught on to how things are and helps me remember!
• Quite a stubborn little child.  She has a way she wants things to be and if I don't do it she gets very upset! She always wants me to read the book she picked out first and she wants to have this certain sippy cup.  It gets a little frustrating at times.
• Mama's girl.  A lot.
• Has such pretty curls!  I really need to get both of their hair trimmed but I can't bring myself to do it because I don't want to lose their curls!
• Makes the funniest faces.  Pretty much for all of bath time we just make faces at each other.
• Takes awhile to get used to people/places, but once she does she's ok on her own.  
• Has the cutest little waddle!  I always put her in the pants that have something on the bum because it accentuates her waddle.  I love it!
• Loves all the girly stuff.  She always wants to try on shoes, wear necklaces, and is always saying things are "pretty".  I painted both their toenails once, and now every so often she'll run into the bathroom, dig out the fingernail polish remover, hand it to me and sit on the ground pointing at her toes.  Once I take the old color off she'll keep pointing at her toes until I've put a new color on.  

Both those girls are so funny to watch!  They keep me entertained and VERY busy.  But it's so fun to watch them learn and grow!  They love being together and if I do something with one, I have to do it with the other.  They're pretty great to have around!

 

At the doctors before getting a crap ton of shots.

Maknig faces!  They love bubble bath.

Ava was tired and laid down with her blanket.  Mia, who was not tired one bit, wanted to do it just for fun!

Just sitting on Dad's box of music. 

They were the cutest little bugs!  I may have to make them do it again next year because I loved it so much!

David says they take after me in one big way, they love books!  I read probably 20 books a day with them.  They'll bring me one and once we finish that one they'll keep bringing me another till we've read them all.

 

I think she loved that pile of leaves more than anyone else!

I'm finally getting them trained to say "cheese" and smile for pictures!  Also, the outfit of hers has a crab and the bum and I love watching it waddle as she walks around!

Asher:

• Such a sweet boy.  He loves his sisters so much and loves playing with them.  He loves to make the people around him happy.  When we had people over for Thanksgiving, he got out David's big tub of popcorn to share with all his cousins!  He just wants to make everyone happy!
• Has no trouble making friends.  It doesn't matter where we are, if there are kids close to his age around he will try to make friends with them.  If we go to McDonald's and he sees kids on the playground he'll tell me he's so glad he has friends there, even if he's never seen them before!
• Is  turning into a bit of a singer.  His Kindergarten teacher told me he sings on his way to each of their different activities and it makes her smile every time.  I recently got called as the choir director in our ward.  David goes mainly to help me translate what is in my head to actual words and to help the 2 other tenors (teenage boys) learn their part, so our kids come too.  After the first week I asked Asher if he sang.  He said no, because he didn't have any music.  So the next week I gave him some music and he actually sang!  And offered to give the opening prayer!  He is also getting good at singing along to the movies the girls watch like Moana and Sing.
• Learning so much.  I recently went to his parent-teacher conference.  She told me he is doing fabulous, especially in math.  I was worried about him starting school so young (he only turned 5 three weeks before school started), but he is thriving!  We got a letter about a month ago saying he was reading below grade level, so that made me a little concerned.  I asked his teacher about it and she got a very exasperated look on her face.  She said it was a new test that they had to do on chromebooks.  Asher's school is a Title 1 school (meaning most kids that go are pretty poor) so some of them hadn't even seen a computer before and were trying to touch the screen instead of use the mouse.  She said they only had a few seconds to answer before it switched to the next question, and some students were still trying to find the mouse on the screen before it switched to the next question!  One student couldn't hear the questions and so was just answering randomly.  One student, who came in to her class able to read, failed the test completely.  So she said basically ignore his score on that because he's doing great!  
• Loves to draw.  This is pretty new and he's never shown much interest in it until recently.  I am encouraging it and love seeing what he comes up with!
• Still misses our old place.  But he's been playing with friends outside of school and church more in the past couple of weeks so I hope that helps him feel a little more settled in.
• Does really well with explanations of things and hates when I tell him to do something just because.  If I remember to talk to him about things, he will usually do what I ask.  Like when I say he shouldn't wear his white gloves because they aren't as warm as his black gloves and I don't want his hands to get cold, that works much better than me saying he has to wear the black gloves.  Unfortunately I am not an infinite well of patience and sometimes lose my temper instead of taking the time to listen to him.  Although I guess I'm not the only parent who does that.
• He's just a fun, sensitive kid who is a wonderful big brother.  Still a Mama's Boy, still the pickiest eater alive, but I'm sure glad we have him. ;)

Coloring one morning before the girls got up.

He was so excited about this!  I ran into many issues, but he thought it was great all the same.

Watching squirrels in our backyard.  All my  kids love to do this!

 

He's a lover, not a fighter.  That's for sure!

 

And finally, David's beautiful turkey on Thanksgiving!