No Words................

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to the most amazing 8 year old I know!

And now to brag a bit about my amazing daughter......

She's definitely the peacemaker in our home and wise for her age. I suspect that just because of her personality she will have endless opportunities at her fingertips throughout her life. She will also be an excellent mother, because she is already a better mother than I am. She is a genius at school. Literally. She's in a 2/3 combo class and when the kids scores on various things are graphed, she's not only the top of the class, she's leaps and bounds above the entire class. She has a deep understanding of the gospel for an 8 year old and takes it all very seriously. She is always trying to better herself (case in point her new years resolutions). She takes time to memorize scriptures and seeks out deeper meaning from scripture stories. Sometimes I watch her in amazement. I'm honored to be her mother.

We celebrated the beginning of her 8th year of life with some pretty cool things. She lucked out and got the day off of school for teacher in-service. So she got to sleep in and the we headed off to Claire's as soon as they opened so she could get her ears pierced. Ains was possibly the toughest ear pierce-ee ever. She barely flinched. She had been looking forward to it for years. And she spent the rest of the day running in the bathroom to look at her ears.
We spent the afternoon at home and she got to help make her birthday cake. When I asked her what kind of cake she wanted this year she was a little stumped. I think this is because she doesn't really like cake. So I pointed out that she could maybe choose an ice cream cake. Because she loves ice cream. We found a recipe for a banana split cake, adjusted it to our liking, and made the most awesome and yummy cake. (If you like ice cream.)

We spent the evening at Red Robin with Kortney and her girls. Ains chose Red Robin because they sing to you and you get ice cream. She looked thrilled when there was suddenly a crowd surrounding our table singing for her. And she ate the entire ice cream sundae all by herself. Then we came back to our house for presents, cake, and a movie.
Her gifts were very much centered on her up-coming baptism. Scriptures, baptism dress, and such. She just seems so old. We had a late night party watching Dolphin Tail and I'm pretty sure she went to be happy last night. After she looked at her earrings one last time.

We love you Ainsley!

Over-compensation

Sometimes I get a little tired of being home. Especially during the winter when we are all cooped up inside, which means the kids are all at each other's throats.

Last weekend was particularly bad. The kids felt well enough, but all had the cough from, well, you know where. We couldn't leave the house because of the nasty coughing, I went to church alone, they missed a day of school, and yet we had none of the benefits of being home with sick kids. Kids that are lethargic and ill you feel sorry for, kids that are full of energy while ill...not so much. Needless to say we (maybe I shouldn't speak for the rest of my family so I'll say I) barely survived last weekend.

I knew a 3 day weekend was coming and so in order to ensure we avoided having a minute of boredom(fighting), I planned my little heart out. We were able to do the following, (Even though Ains woke up puking Friday night. Bad mom? Possibly. But there was no way I was staying home with sick kids again.)

• went swimming (courtesy of free swimming at my gym :)
• ordered pizza (courtesy of John's employer)
• played at friends houses
• had friends at our house
• made pizza (courtesy of John's culinary skills)
• played laser tag (courtesy of gift certificates the kids earned at school :)
• ate left-over pizza (courtesy of mom's culinary skills)
• went birthday shopping
• went baptism dress shopping
• Ains had a birthday dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Welch
• I worked
• John worked
• Owen and John weren't sick of pizza so they went to Costco for more pizza (courtesy of Owen and John's iron stomachs with the ability to comsume incredible ammounts of pizza)

It was a fun, pizza filled weekend. And I didn't feel like strangling my children at the end of it.

And I also took 3 kids to stake conference by myself. I'm pretty sure I get an award for that. I'm waiting for it to arrive in the mail.

Goals for 2012

On New Year's Eve we were eating dinner and started talking about new year's resolutions. Everyone in the family came up with a few. Ainsley (being the go-getter that she is) wrote hers down on a sticky note and put it on her bathroom mirror. Her goals are to 1) use less electronics 2) be more independent and 3) be more positive. John and I may or may not have suggested goal #2. And I would have to say that Ains has worked on her goals more than anyone else!
Owen's goal is to exercise more. I think the kids learned about that at school because they are both a little obsessed about what is exercise and what isn't. His exercising usually involves running and jumping on the couch or diving off the couch or doing some other weird movement. Since Owen is smart, he will also use his commitment to his goals as an excuse to get out of work. It's very convenient to declare a sudden workout when asked to clean your room.

Emmie has developed an aversion to her bed. So we will declare her goal....learn to sleep in your own bed. Occasionally she'll start out in her bed, but sometimes she insists on sleeping on the floor, or in her tent. She wakes up crying most nights and ends up in our bed since we have a desire to keep the two children that ARE sleeping, asleep. I don't know if I can say that she's been working diligently on her goal.
I think we also might have to add to her list, quit being afraid of the dark and the toilet. She sleeps with a nightlight AND a hall light on and even complains about the dark if' we're driving at night. This has been a first for me. And I'm convinced that Emmie will be my child who will wear diapers to kindergarten. If I even mention the toilet she gets mad. And lately if someone leaves the lid up she stands in the bathroom and says, "Scawy." Just what every mother of a 2 year old loves to hear!

Among other things, John and I are going to hone our parenting skills. We've finally admitted that we have no idea what we're doing and could use some help. I've been to a love and logic class in the past and liked what it taught. And since my children are far from perfect, and many times I just want to throw my hands in the air and give up....we bought this book. That will hopefully give us some practical strategies for dealing with our difficult moments. (I wish I would have bought the book for kids 0-6 when Ainsley was born...that would have been smart.)