Summer Goals

Summer is quickly coming and I keep switching between nervous with all three kids home every day to excited to have all three home all the time. This is the last summer before Ashton starts school. While I know we'll have every summer home with the kids, it still makes it bittersweet to see the end of all kids in our home. I've prayed and wished away the years for this to come and now that it is so close, I am sad. As a family, we've been working on our summer bucket list so here are our ideas.

1. Ashton to learn addition, subtraction, and reading. She does pretty well with adding and subtracting but I'd love to improve on it by involving numbers 11-20. We have started teaching her to read. With dual immersion, they highly recommend that she enter kindergarten able to read in English as they only teach reading in Spanish. She loves doing the daily activities to learn to read so I see it going very well this summer. She also wants to learn how to tie shoes. I need to work on being patient enough to teach her. Ashton will also continue with piano through the summer and I anticipate that going well.
2. Tanner to learn to write some letters and shapes. He still prefers to just scribble everywhere. He knows his numbers very well but his letters need to improve. I also want him to be able to dress himself by the end of summer. With three kids, it's often easier to dress him myself so we can go but I think this summer will be a good time to slow down and have him do it himself.
3. Go the beach! We haven't been to the beach closest to us yet since moving so I hope to spend some time there. It's nerve-wracking to bring the 3 kids myself so this will have to be a whole family outing when Joseph's schedule allows it.
4. Complete temple ordinances for my grandparents. Now that I don't have a nursing baby, I can get to the temple more often. I have a few ordinances left on my grandmothers and I'd love to get those completed by the end of summer.
5. Live it up in Gatlinburg! We are beyond excited for our trip to our first national park this summer. As a family, we hope to see as many national parks as possible while our children are home. Our first one will be the Great Smoky National Park.
6. Plant a garden. This was on Ashton's list. She misses our garden beds from our old house and at times, so do I. While we won't do raised beds, I think we'll do some large planter boxes.
7. Swimming at the pool. I'm hoping to take the kids swimming at our HOA pool at least once a week and then again as a family during the weekends.
8. Complete some house projects like replacing all our gold door knobs, staining outside furniture, painting some more rooms, etc.
9. Move Tanner and Ashton together in a bedroom and move Gemma to a crib upstairs. This won't happen until mid-August right before school starts.
10. Build a massive fort inside.
11. Visit all the local splashpads.
12. Make a slip and slide in the backyard when it's not a rainy week.
13. Go hiking. Not quite sure where yet but maybe Brazos Bend State Park.
14. We'll all do the summer reading program at the library again I'm sure. With that, I hope to read a chapter book/week with Ashton.
15. Visit the Lone Star Flight Museum. They do a cool reading/story time once a week and I haven't ventured there yet. I know Tanner will love going.
16. Visit the space center as much as we can. Since we got a membership, I hope to go there when it's super hot outside.
17. Visit Schlitterbahn or another waterpark in Galveston. We haven't been to Galveston with the kids so this is definitely on our list of a few day trips there once Joseph's work schedule goes back to normal.
18. Visit the Houston Dog Show. We did this many years ago before kids and really enjoyed it. If Joseph can get a day off, I'd love to all go.
19. Visit some new parks. Once Gemma drops her morning nap, I'm hoping we could get going in the morning before the heat sets in and check out some parks that are a little farther away from our home.
20. Be outside as much as possible. I know for many people, Texas summers are not "outside weather." I try my best to deal with the sweating and the heat and just enjoy it. I'm going to sweat no matter what so I am going to TRY to find the joy in the heat. I'll stock the freezer with popsicles to make it better. I really want to try to be outside at least three hours a day when possible. I have read a blog with a goal of 1000 hours outside each year. This averages out to be 2.75 hours/day. Right now, we probably spend 2ish hours a day outside so I'm trying to increase this. Some days are easier than others (rain vs. sun) but I can still be more willing.

CFM The Good Shepherd

I want to write down what we do for Come Follow Me each week. Then I can use these ideas again in a few years when we study the New Testament again.

This week, we're learning the Good Shepherd story.

Monday night for FHE, Joseph was gone so it was all me. We made sheep ear headbands and we learned about shepherds herding sheep. The kids were the sheep and I tried to keep them corralled in an area. We likened this to how Jesus Christ wants us to stay with Him and close to our brothers and sisters.

Tuesday we did something simple of just memorizing a verse. Ashton has a scripture for primary on Sunday so we memorized it together.

Thursday, we used the coloring page from the primary manual and colored the sheep and the shepherd.

Friday- I wrote "What makes you happy" on a piece of paper and each kid drew or wrote what makes them happy. Ashton drew animals, the sun (for the outdoors), some toys, and a few other things. Tanner drew rockets, peanut butter, bread, and some squiggly lines. It was a fun activity to talk about when we do things that make us happy, our Heavenly Father is happy too.

Easter 2019

Easter came and went again this year. Between Joseph's bizarre work schedule and our campout, we didn't do a huge Easter meal. Oh well. I am slowly learning that we can have different traditions than the ones I grew up with. Camping was a lot of fun but I was exhausted so the idea of cooking a huge meal only to have three kids not eat it didn't sound fun. Instead, I took a nap after church.


My sister made the girls' dresses and Tanner's coat jacket. His jacket has hidden dinosaurs ironed in it. He LOVES it! They were perfect for our kids.

Instead of doing Easter baskets, my sister-in-law shared this cool idea with me. I felt much better about buying this instead of spending money on junk for baskets. We've never done baskets so Ashton still doesn't know any different. I think that will change next year when she's in school. The kids have acted out the Easter story countless times and play with this all the time. I love hearing their conversations too. It was the perfect gift for our children.

Springtime

 We've been soaking up the beautiful weather as much as possible this spring. It seems to me that it is not as hot as past years in April. I know it will be too hot all too soon. Here's a little bit of our spring.

A house down the street from us has a northern screech owl nest in it. The owl comes out a few times a week for us to see him/her. The kids are enjoying watching it grow.

 Ashton continues to take piano and is doing really well. She loves it and begs to practice several times a day still. Her first recital will be next month.

 

 Gemma is now walking full time rather than crawling. She also continues to love puddles and water.

 With all her walking, she is also finding new things to explore like the treehouse.

Random family shot of the kids and I. It doesn't happen often but we were sending some pictures to my parents.

 Our local Chick-Fil-A hosted a father/daughter date night in February and then a Mother/Son game night in March. Tanner loved going with me and played lots of games. We like this Chick-Fil-A because it is right across from the Space Center so is very "space" themed.

 We got the tricycle out for Gemma. She's slowly getting used to it.

Huntsville 2019

Ashton, Tanner, and I ventured up to Huntsville for the annual campout with our old ward/stake. This was Tanner's first year going and he did great. I'm glad we waited another year for him to go. He enjoyed it a lot more and only got lost a few times. He is such a quiet wanderer so getting lost is a gift of his.

We left Thursday afternoon once Joseph got home to stay with Gemma. We are not big fans of taking babies camping and I am grateful we left her home this time. Maybe next year, we can all go. Maybe...

We successfully did all the activities between Thursday and Saturday. The kids were exhausted and Tanner slept for the whole 2 hour drive home and then stayed asleep in the van for another hour after getting home. The weather was much colder than I anticipated, especially at night. But the kids slept well despite it.

The first two days were windy and cooler so the water was pretty rough. But Saturday was beautiful and we got the canoe out. The kids stayed still and didn't tip the canoe.

 Some gymnastic/cheer girls wanted to lift the kids. They loved it.

Tanner found some Y-scooter (or something like that) and loved it. He does well at balancing with his regular bike and he continued to balance well with this. I might be looking for one on sale/used for his Christmas present. We'll see what I find.

 Saturday morning is the Easter egg hunt. The kids loved doing it with all their friends. This was the only egg hunt we did this year and I like that. I am already sick of the candy.

 Friday night, we do a big dinner with the 100+ people who come to the campout. After the dinner, we do a skit show. This year, the kids and I sang "Alice the Camel" for the show. Tanner was pretty hesitant but quickly joined right in. One of the families brings their drones every year and the husband showed Tanner how it works.

 While they didn't stay overnight, the Coon family came and Ashton and Tanner were so excited to spend time with them too.

 We made it swimming but it was FREEZING! The kids begged me all morning to go and then begged me to go back to the campsite shortly after getting wet.

 Tanner swimming out on his own. He was pretty adventurous with how far out he went.

 Ashton stayed much closer to the beach.

 We did go real fishing but the kids preferred to "fish" at the campsite. Our fishing rod just has a rubber fish on the end of it so no hook. That way, they can "fish" wherever they want.

 If you look real close, there's an alligator in the middle of the picture. This was about 15 feet from us on the fishing boardwalk.

General Conference Weekend

We had a wonderful conference weekend. I tried to plan ahead as much as possible and it seems my efforts paid off a little bit.

The kids all knew that conference weekend was coming up. I loved seeing their excitement. They picked out treats for the key words they were going to listen for. We focused on cleaning up the house before the weekend so we could truly relax on Saturday and Sunday.

We set up the folding table upstairs with all the snacks, water bottles, and other essentials. The kids were beyond excited. Tanner kept asking all morning, "Is it General Conference yet?"

For the first time, the kids actually caught on to the key words and what to listen for. Tanner and Ashton kept running back and forth to the table to grab the specific treat. Ashton kept asking when President Nelson would speak. It was hard for her to wait that long. When she did see him, she identified him immediately. I'm grateful she knows who our Prophet is.

When I asked Ashton what her favorite part was, she said when the choir sang, "I Am A Child of God." Tanner's favorite part was eating the treats. I know the kids felt the Spirit as they listened between their whining and yelling.

For the next conference, we will definitely do the treats with certain words again. This time, we did Jesus Christ, family, and love. It worked great! I will try to find better coloring pages. The ones provided on LDS.org were a little over Ashton's head with her limited reading skills. I've seen other ideas of getting quiet activities ready such as a new puzzle, Lego building, etc. I should have focused more on that.

My favorite talk was probably Sister Craven's. At least so far. I'm sure it will change when I read them all and study them more. It's always a hard month between conference and the Ensign edition.

12 Months Old

Gemma is officially one! I look forward to the next year of her becoming more independent. She's been a great baby but she is also pretty sensitive/particular. I am well aware that the baby phase isn't my favorite. I much prefer the toddler years so I am excited that Gemma is getting closer to that.

Playing with a ball when driving to Lake Jackson.

She is now a walker. She took her first steps a few weeks before her birthday. Just in the past week or so, she's walking more and more. Gemma is an efficient crawler so I anticipate crawling to last a little longer.

Her schedule most days:
Wake up by 7:30am
Nap from 10:30-11:45ish (she can get by with a catnap for this nap and then a longer afternoon nap)
Lunch/play
Nap from 3-4:30ish
Bedtime around 8:30pm
She wakes up 1-2 times per night. I am hoping this ends very soon as we are about done with breastfeeding. If not, Joseph gets to take care of her for a few nights to convince her to sleep.

Her hair is starting to curl a little like Ashton's. I'm hopeful it stays that way.

Took her to the zoo and she did pretty well. Her favorite thing was to crawl behind the fences and play in the dirt/mulch.

Gemma is the most attached kid out of the three. Her separation anxiety is pretty bad. All I have to do is walk into our YMCA and she starts screaming. If I take her to the drop off daycare so I can work out, she loses it completely. They try to console her for 15 minutes and then they come find me. Gemma is finally getting better with staying with Joseph but even then, she just tolerates it. While I love her affection towards me, I also look forward to some change in this area. Hopefully by about 18 months, she should be good to go with other people.

First trip to the splashpad for 2019 and Gemma was a big fan!

She figured out how to go down stairs correctly so she turns around at the top and slides down. This also helps when she plays on our playground outside. She knows to go down the slide correctly. Hooray!

Her favorite toys include books and balls. She also loves playing with Ashton and Tanner. They can often get her to chase them around a room. Another favorite of hers is playing in mulch, dirt, or water. This girl loves being outside and getting dirty.

Gemma is finally warming up to solid foods. She is just about done with nursing so she has no other options. She drinks almond milk rather than whole milk. Tanner did this too. Her favorite foods are cheese, eggs, meat, anything close to spaghetti (ravioli, etc), peas (she eats them by the handfuls), and apples. I pretty much feed her what I know she will eat since she is picky. I'm not too worried as Ashton and Tanner have turned out okay with their eating habits.

Weight is 22 lbs and height is 29.5 inches. She's our shortest baby so far, which makes sense as her pants are always a size smaller than her shirts.

She had a great birthday. The big kids were much more into it than she was. She had some yummy cake with some friends. The big kids opened all her gifts for her. As usual, Gemma cared more about the boxes that the gifts came in. She got some new dresses, a few toys, some yummy snacks, a bubble machine, and a few books.

Dog food cake (cocoa puffs and chocolate frosting). She actually ate some, which surprised me. I thought she would just throw it off her highchair.