Sick Kids

Wednesday late in the night Walt woke up complaining of a stomach ache, not long after he started throwing up which went on a few more times that night. The next day he rested all day and was fine. By Friday evening I was starting to think Walt's flu was just a fluke and maybe he ate something wrong, since no one else had gotten anything.
Then around 7:00pm Danny and I went out to dinner with Clark and we had to take our food to go because Clark started throwing-up.Which was so sad, I can't ever remember having a baby with the flu and dry heaving:(
Around 10:00 that evening Hanna came in saying she threw-up. Which happened a couple more times that night.
Around 2:00 Van came in with the same story. Same situation.
Around 4:00 Daisy came in to say she was going to throw-up, luckily hers made it in a bowl each time.
Needless to say I had a lot of laundry to do on Saturday. Thankfully we were all able to get a nap in. I had never had that happen before, usually it is so spread out. Thank goodness it all happened at once and passed quickly (even though that night was exhausting)! Keeping our fingers crossed that it's over with and Max, Danny and I won't get it.

Pumpkins

Carving and painting pumpkins. I decided to pretty much let the kids do their pumpkins by themselves (mostly). Which gave me the idea to let Walt and Daisy just paint theirs if that's what they wanted. They all ended up using some kind of paint on their pumpkin.

Clark enjoyed being outside while the kids worked on their pumpkins.

Max with his pumpkin head.

Van's, Hanna's, Daisy's, Walt's and Max's

Clark

Clark started saying da da on Danny's b-day. He has also been army crawling for a couple of weeks now. He keeps rocking on his hands and knees, but then keeps going to his tummy, we will see. Max didn't crawl until the day he turned 9 months I thought army crawling was going to be his only crawl.

Clark got a hold of a marker.

All ready for church (without the hat).

Play time.

Clark started eating some baby foods. Hanna loves feeding him.

Clark is 8 months old today. He weighs 22lbs. and is 31 in. long.

Have I mentioned how much we love this boy?!

Fish

The kids each won their own fish at my sister-in-laws school fair. They were so excited about having a pet. They each named their own fish, there was Ralph, Nemo, D Dog, Nibbles and Abby.

Sadly to say, they all died within a week. Oops:(

No More ThumbS for Walt

Walt is one determined little boy! I have been bribing the twins to stop sucking their thumbs and if they do they can choose any toy they want even a bike. Well after me saying this for about a week or two Walt comes to me and says, "I'm not sucking my thumb, can I get a game?" And I realized I haven't seen him sucking his thumb much, but I told him he needed to not suck it for 5 days. At night he would cry and say I want to suck my thumb, but I want my game. So I asked him if I could put gloves on his hands and I would talk to him or tell him a story until he would fall asleep the first two nights. He went from sucking it almost all day too, I couldn't even get him to stop during preschool. But he did it! And it was hard! I am so proud of him!

Walt with his reward.

Funny story about Walt and his thumb. About a month ago I noticed Walt sucking his left thumb and I said to Danny I swear Walt and Daisy both suck their right thumbs, am I the worse mom to have not realized for 4 years that Walt sucks his left thumb? And Danny says, well actually he got a sore on his right thumb one day and he was crying that it hurt and wanted to suck his thumb, so I just told him to suck his other thumb. I was like you are kidding me?! We could've weened him then. He said, I know it was just a hard day. Ahh! 

Anyway here are some cute thumb pictures that I will cherish.

 

Danny's Birthday

It was Danny's 34th Birthday last Wednesday, October 17th. It was a busy day, but at least we got some of his favorite foods in...me and the kids made sausage & egg mac-muffins for breakfast, Max, Hanna and I (and Clark too) took him out to his favorite restaurant in town, Ohjah for Beef Udon and then we had hot fudge sundaes later that night for desert. Not much of a birthday, but I guess at this age family and good food is the way to celebrate.

Happy Birthday Danny!

We love you!

Parenting the Young Child

Parenting The Young Family

“There is no role in life more essential and more eternal than that of motherhood.” Elder Ballard

     I.        How to be more prepared each day?

·         Wake up a little earlier than the rest of the family.

·         Read scriptures

·         Pray

·         Write down your daily checklist.

1.       Something you want to do for yourself. (read for 20 mins./blog/nap/veg…)

2.       Something you want to do for someone in your family. (call grandma/write a note husband)

3.       Something you want to do in your world. (clean the floor/organize a closet)

4.       Write any other tasks you would like to get done that day.

·         Exercise

   II.        How to manage our home with our children?

*Routine and Chores; which will also teach our children responsibility as well.

·         Routine/Schedule

1.       Morning (say prayers, make your bed, get dress, brush teeth & hair)

                                                         i.            7:00am Breakfast

                                                       ii.            7:30am family scripture reading and prayers

2.       Afternoon (after school snack, homework, then free time)

3.       Dinner (sweep, dishes, front room, clear cups, wipe counters)

4.       Bed 

                                                         i.            8:00pm family prayer

·         Chores

Linda Eyre from her book A Joyful Mother of Children says “There are many specific ways to cut down on stress in a normal hectic household. Probably one of the most vital is to share the workload with husband and children. Although this will almost inevitably produce mass pandemonium initially, it’s worth sticking to it until the process becomes expected and routine. Don’t despair, no matter what, because as children learn to accept responsibility -- from the tiny beginnings of the two-year-old being able to get a diaper for the baby to the big things like doing a good job cleaning the bathroom -- it is so much the better for everybody involved.

Many times we say to ourselves in exasperation, “I could do it so much faster and easier myself!” Just remember -- it’s worth the time and trouble in the long run to teach children responsibility.”

Daily Chores for Mom

·         Kitchen (unload the dishwasher and fill dishwasher throughout the day and wipe down counters)

·         Start a load of laundry (place folded laundry on children’s bed for them to put away)

·         Dinner

·         Whatever else on to do list (I find doing a big chore daily works well).

Daily Chores for children

·         Younger children can do all your chores with you. (wash dishes, play with pots and pans, unload silver wear, match socks, fold towels, rotate laundry, shake the salad dressing…)

·         The older children are in charge of putting away their laundry, other personal items and after dinner chore.

Weekly Chores

·         Saturday Morning (every member of the family has a chore and I check the kids). We do get a Saturday treat after chores.

·         Our daily and weekly chores are expected with no allowance. We do have an “EXTRA” chore chart with prices next to each chore. If the children want to make money after family chores they can do extras.

           

 III.        How to teach the young child?

Children learn best through play. Set-up a routine schedule that works well for both you and your child. You can break it up throughout the day.

·         Schedule a lesson plan into your day. And talk a lot, emphasize words.

·         Reading Time

·         Arts and Crafts

·         Letters, Numbers, Colors, Shapes, Sorting, Patterns

·         Sing Songs/listen to music

·         Color

·         Write

·         Build with blocks (don't let them destroy your tower)

·         Play dress-up

P    Play cars (talk with them about what they are doing "Max is driving the YELLOW car OVER the bridge)

·         Count (can do this while driving)

·         Rhyme Words (can do this while driving)

·         Respect for property (don't let them destroy toys)

·         Have Quiet Time (not nap time, quiet alone time. Need to expect more from our children)

 IV.        How to make time for yourself,  husband and each child?

We build deep and loving family relationships by doing simple things together, like family dinner and family home evening and by just having fun together. In family relationships love is really spelled t-i-m-e, time. Taking time for each other is the key for harmony at home. We talk with, rather than about, each other. We learn from each other, and we appreciate our differences as well as our commonalities. We establish a divine bond with each other as we approach God together through family prayer, gospel study, and Sunday worship.”  Dieter F. Uchtdorf

·         “Mommy is a person” (Refer to article on powerofmoms.com)

·         Weekly Date Night with husband (even if it’s at home with takeout & a movie)

·         Date with child (not necessarily out just sometime 1 on 1 with each child...painting nails, playing a game, reading a book, going to the store)

*I feel we can Make Time for anything we really want to. We can say I don't want to make time for that in my life right now.

V.       Wonderful resources listed below.

Parenting Resources

Here is a list of excellent resources that have helped in teaching my children...
http://powerofmoms.com/                                                                                       
 Here are the topics of just a few of  the articles…                          

·         Are You Getting What YOU Need Out Of Motherhood?

·         10 Ways to Achieve Mommy Burnout

·         Big Things are Made out of Little Things

·         Six Reasons to Never Give Up on Motherhood

·         Joy or “Just Wait”?

·         Mommy Is A Person

·         Your Children Want YOU!

·         Moms And Dads Are Just…Different 

http://valuesparenting.com/   

       Here are some topic titles...

The Happy Family                                           Parenting Helps
 Four Phase Course                                     Value of the Month                    Entitlement Trap
 Family Rules                                              Family Night Lessons                                 
 Family Economy                                        How to Talk to Your Kids About Sex
 Family Traditions                                       Lifebalance

Favorite blog: http://www.71toes.com/  Shawni Eyre Pothier  young mother of the year in AZ for 2011,  Mother of 5, TOFW Speaker, Writer and Author A Mother’s Book of Secrets

A must read talk, Happiness in Family Life  https://www.lds.org/ click on resources then click on Home and family Happiness in Family Life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.”                       ~ The Family: A Proclamation to the World ~

Books:

Parenting books by Linda & Richard Eyre…    http://www.eyresfreebooks.com/booklist.html

·         A Joyful Mother of Children

·         I Didn't Plan to Be a Witch by Linda Eyre

·         Teaching Your Children Joy

·         Teaching Your Children Responsibility

·         Teaching Your Children Values

·         Teaching Your Children Sensitivity

·         How to Talk to your Child About Sex

·         Three Steps to a Strong Family

·         The Entitlement Trap

A Mother's Book of Secrets by Linda Eyre and Shawni Eyre Pothier

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber