House Rules

I am taking advice from Supernanny. My boys are extremely disrespectful, and I am getting so tired of it. They do practically nothing around the house, and that is going to change. I printed up some house rules, and hung it on the wall. Supernanny said to keep the same number of rules as their age. Well, I have a 3 year old, and a 6 year old. I have 5 basic rules. Once these ones are mastered, I will add more.

Recent pictures

Sorry I am such a slacker. We have been so busy this past month, that the blog has taken a back burner. Here are some recent pics of the kiddos. Playing on Mommy's new laptop doing "school", and the kids having a snack on our new kid size picnic table.

Hairbow Holder

I made a hairbow holder for Natalie the other day. I wasn't about to pay the $20+ for a professionally made one, when I knew I could make one for about $6. I think it came out rather cute. What do you think?



It was simple to do. I bought a wooden letter at the craft store, and a piece of purple sparkle scrapbook paper. I traced the letter onto the paper, and cut it out. Then I mod podged it onto the letter. Got some ribbon, and used a staple gun to attatch it to the back. Added the hairbows, and voila! I think I need to make the ribbons a little longer though. I have been getting into making hairbows, and I am running out of room already on the holder.

Chocolate pudding

I was trying to get dinner on the table, and I was using the oven. Natalie was being a little cling-on, spider monkey baby, and wouldn't let me put her down. I finally go so fed up, and I needed to get the dinner out of the oven, that I put her in her high chair, and gave her a chocolate snack pack. I think she had fun. What do you think? She is only in a diaper, since she was playing out in the pool earlier that afternoon.

When we were done eating, she was so mad when I threw the empty container in the trash. I then proceeded to give her a bath in the kitchen sink. I didn't want to walk all the way to the bathroom. She was filthy. She had pudding from her hairline, all the way down into her diaper. gross.

Soooo sick!

Jacob was so sick this past week. He started out with croup, and it just went downhill from there. Poor kiddo. One night about a week into his sickness marathon, he woke up screaming with an ear infection. It took forever to get him to calm down, and get comfortable enough to go back to sleep. He was just not a happy camper. Finally he had ran off, and was crying, and wouldn't let anyone touch him. Jared had gone back to bed, since he had to work in the morning. I tried to console Jacob, but he wanted nothing to do with anyone. He has one little corner of the house where he likes to hide, and he went to his corner. After about 5 minutes or so, his crying stopped. I was sitting on the couch trying to doze, and I thought I would go check on him. This is what I found.

Poor kiddo was so tired, that he fell asleep sitting up in the corner of the wall and fridge. The next day I took him into the dr, and found out that he had a massively brutal double ear infection, and was on the brink of pneumonia. The dr was really surprised that his ear drums hadn't ruptured yet. They were bulging so much, he said the ear drum was extremely thin in a few spots, and to be prepared for a ruptured drum in the next few hours. He was put on an extremely strong abx, according to my sister. Poor kiddo. Luckily, 10 days later, he is his old mischevious, monkey boy self. :)

Ponytail

Natalie finally has enough hair to pull back into a ponytail. These pictures aren't the best. Natalie doesn't stay still for very long anymore, now that she is walking. :(

I love her face in this picture. This is her "cheese" face.

I finally got the cutest video of natalie shaking her head. She does this all the time, it is soooo funny. I am surprised she doesn't fall over when she is walking and shaking her head. Oh wait....she does. :)

Soccer and easter eggs

I know I am a slacker, but it seems that whenever I get life somewhat organized, it falls apart again. And this blog, seems to take the back burner a lot.

Soccer

Cody wanted to play soccer this year. Fine by me. I made sure to ask him several times whether he wanted to play or not. Every time was a "yes". I told him that if I signed him up and bought all of the stuff, then he had to finish the season. He couldn't quit in the middle. He said okay, and I signed him up. Bought all of the stuff, and we went to our first practice. He did okay. Being in kindergarden, they don't keep scores in the games, so they are really just learning how to play the game, and the rules and stuff. After his first game, he decided he didn't want to play anymore, because he didn't get to kick the ball, and he doesn't like running. I told him too bad, and he will finish the season. Luckily there are only 3 games left. He is in the red socks. Doesn't he look so enthused...


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EASTER EGGS

We colored easter eggs today. Some of them came out really cool. Some of them....not so much. :)




See the pretty one in the front that is 4 different colors? Yeah....I did that. :) Cody did the top row of eggs. Jacob had the middle row, and I had the 4 in the bottom row.


Can you tell where Jacob was sitting?

Spring Break

I know this is a little late, but I am just now getting back into the groove of things after being on vacation for 11 days. It was nice to get away. I loaded the car, picked Cody up early from school, and headed out of town. We drove to Vegas, and had a little pit stop, so the boys could get out of the car a bit and stretch their legs. We then got back into the car and headed to Lake Havasu City. We stayed with my mom for 2 nights. We went to the beach and played in the sand. Natalie wasn't too sure about it at first, but after a few seconds, she didn't mind it, and was putting the sand on her own feet. It was cute.

We then headed to Phoenix. Our final destination for the week. We got to my dad's house, and unloaded the car a bit, and off to Cayden's birthday party we went. The kids had fun playing, and I enjoyed catching up with my brothers and SIL's and my aunt and sister.

We did so much stuff while we were there. We went to different parks, and we went to the zoo twice. The boys and I got to pet some sting rays. That was sooooo cool. They are really rubbery, but in a soft way. Really hard to explain. They had almost like that craft foam feel to them.

We went on a "train" ride. It was actually the Lightrail system in Phoenix, but the boys thought it was a train since it was on tracks. They didn't care what the real name was.

And, my wonderful, talented SIL took GORGEOUS pictures of my kids. *Andrea Whittle Photography*

I am trying so hard to get my hubby to move to Phoenix. At the moment, he just won't budge. :( Oh well. I guess I will be spending money driving down there then. The trip back was very long, and I did it all in one day. It wouldn't have been possible without the DVD player though. That thing is sooooo handy. I really want to get one installed in my car, but.....it will take a lot of convincing to spend that much money.

Task Cards

The boys have started getting into the habit of saying, "I want_______!" We have started replying with "Earn it." In order for the boys to earn some "candy money", we have implemented Task Cards. These are little chores that they have to do around the house. They get one card a day, and they get a dime when they complete the task. We store the dimes in a sheet protector that was made for stamp collecting. It works great. Perfect size, and it is see-through. These hang on the wall without being in direct site of houseguests. Jacob LOVES getting his dimes. On saturdays, we collect all of the dimes that they have earned that week, and pay our tithes, and the rest is theirs to spend or save. We have this cool little corner variety store that still has individual pieces of candy for like 2-5 cents a piece.

Eventually we will start adding additional cards that they can do to earn more money. We will then phase out the paying them for the little tasks, and they will be required to "earn their keep". Then they will have to use the bigger tasks to earn their money.

Cody's cards are just words, since he knows how to read.

Jacob, since he can't read, I took pictures of all of his tasks. I used my trusty photoshop, and added words to the pictures. He can look at the card on the fridge, and he knows exactly what he has to do. He is usually the first one to be done with his tasks. I hope it keeps up. Last week, he earned more money than Cody, because Cody chose not to do some of his chores. ;)

I just uploaded them to walmart, and printed them off like normal 4x6 photos. I then laminated them so they would last a little longer. All in all, it was about $2.25 to make the cards. You could probably do it cheaper if you had a photo printer, or used contact paper or your own laminator. I don't, so I had to buy everything. Even still...for under $3, my kids do chores. Well....at least one of them does.

Time Flies.....

Well, since it has been a month, I should probably post something, so my family members will be happy. :) We have had a lot going on this past month. Natalie turned 1. :( My baby is now entering the world of toddlerhood. Even though she doesn't toddle yet. (hehe)

She was so cute at her birthday party.

She loved all of the attention, and was getting quite angry at some of her cousins for stealing her toys. By the time we got to the cake though, she had just about had it. She was so tired, she just wanted to go to bed.

She was a good sport though. Everyone had fun, and left happy. It was a good day.

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On another note, Jared has been going to work suuuuper early in the mornings, so he is able to be home earlier in the day to play with the boys. He used to go to work around 9 am or so, and would get home around 6. Well, the boys go to bed between 7-8, so there wasn't much time to rough-house and play with daddy before we had to wind down for the night. Now, Jared goes into work about 6, and he is usually home by 4, just when Cody gets home from school. This has been great. The boys love having the extra attention around when I am trying to make dinner, and I love having the boys distracted when I am trying to make dinner. :) It is a win-win situation. Here are some pictures from one of our recent "Family Night" 's.

Jacob and Cody were wrestling. Sad to say, but Jacob really has some talent in this area, and won. Makes it pretty fair when you weigh the same as your big brother. ;) Jacob is on the bottom in this shot, but right after I took it, he wiggled his way on top, and Cody couldn't move. It was really funny, and Cody was getting REALLY upset. ;)

Natalie isn't much of a wrestler, but she is sure ticklish, and is quite the acrobat. She loves to be upside-down. Blow on her tummy, and she just goes crazy. Combine the two....

That is one happy baby. :)

I promise to post more frequently. We have coming up: Task cards, soccer games, and spelling tests. Plus some random cute kiddos too. :) Oh...and Happy Birthday Daddy. :)