So.. Max decided he wanted to not wear diapers anymore. We had tried to potty train him in the late Fall but he wasn't ready so we stopped after a day or two. So when he showed interest (I had been asking him every now and then if he wanted to try again and he always said no) we dove right in. I got potty prizes at the store and printed off a sticker chart and hung timers all over the place to remind us to go or to try. After a few days he got the hang of it pretty good! Theo was really interested in it all and I was ALMOST tempted to try and potty train him at the same time... but he was too scared to actually sit bottomless on any of the potties. He just likes to sit on the lid. Despite Max being pretty awesome at it, there have still been lots of 'fun' messes to clean up on the rare occasions it doesn't go as smoothly as normal.
Charlie and Alec had their Spring Concerts! Because of Covid, we had to get tickets ahead of time and it was Zoomed again for any not able to come. I love seeing how well the boys are doing! I didn't manage to get any of Alec unfortunately. But I really was VERY impressed with the difficulty of the music. Alec did the combined Full Orchestra practices after school once or twice a week for the past few months. Its impressive.
Chirs was asked to model for some pictures at a new Golf Simulator store in the Riverwoods. Jess and Ryan know the owners and so she, Thom, Chris and their dad were in a fun golf photoshoot. As a 'Thankyou' they were given a free month to this place. Chris tried to capitalize on his free pass and went at least once a week. (usually late at night after the kids were in bed. We made it a date night a few times and I saw in a comfy chair in the back and worked on my laptop. Pretty fun.
Jordan and Chris helped my dad and mom move the big organ downstairs in their American Fork home. It was pretty tricky and I wasn't optimistic that it would even work but with Jordan and Chris' brains and muscles they did it! Mom was so worried, almost crying, and I almost felt bad that I was just sitting there, grinning silly, enjoying watching Chris' brains and muscles work. I saw mom tearing up and tried to calm her fears, assuming the tears were for the potential destruction of her organ, but nope! She was just so scared someone was going to get hurt or break a finger or something. I guess we're different sometimes.
St. Patricks Day! I still felt a little bad about the lame Valentines so I made a special effort to celebrate St. Patty's day by making super green zucchini muffins, dying the water green and having green eggs. I love the way Theo loves his belly button. He often has a finger in it if at all possible.
I organized the pantry at the end of January but didn't finalize it until this month. I LOVE having things organized.
We're still going strong with our Family Home Evening initiative this year. I've converted my Emotional Resilience manual into 43 FHE lessons. Short and sweet, with a journal entry and weekly challenge. The kids get new badges/pins every chapter and put on jewels for completed journal entries and challenges. Sometimes it goes fairly well, sometimes it feels like no ones listening, and then sometimes its 50/50.
We love play dates with Aunt Sarah, Hazel and cute baby Graham! Theo REALLY loves babies.
Freddy advanced from yellow belt to orange belt in karate. He's so agile, flexible and fast. I love watching him do this. We're impressed with all that Karate teaches and have enjoyed Freddy going twice a week all year.
With lots of responsible older kids to babysit, Chris and I have been able to go out on dates almost every week. We even started taking a kid with us every other time for some one-on-two time with Mom and Dad. The kids have loved it....except.... the older Theo gets the harder he's getting for the big kids to put him to bed. Gwen is usually the soft-hearted one who hears him crying in his crib and will get him, comfort and hold him until we get home.
Not sure why I took this picture, but its a good reminder for me to share about our scripture study. Its still not ideal since the kids are on screens more often than I think is healthy but it has been getting them to read the scriptures on their own. To have any screen time the kids have to take care of Important Things first. Spiritual, physical, mental and social. I'll put a section of verses to read from our Come, Follow Me reading thats week and write a few questions to get them thinking about those verses and then they answer those questions in their journal and we're supposed to review them at the end of the day when we do family prayer. Sometimes we forget.
