A Patriotic Parade

Westley got home from school last week, I think it was Thursday, and really wanted to have a parade because he had made the little flag he is holding in his hand at school. So he sat down and made these little hats, or headbands (as he called them) for everyone (including myself). Well, actually, he made one for everyone but Eliza, but she started acting up and throwing herself around screaming in a tantrum. I finally asked him to make one for her, but he didn't want to, on account that she would ruin it. But I finally convinced him, and she was so excited to be part of it. So here they are, lined up and ready to begin their parade. They marched around the house the whole time, with Westley singing a song he'd made up about the United States of America.

Making Sugar Cookies

A couple of weeks ago, the same week as the first zoo trip, Westley really wanted to bake sugar cookies after school. Since he had a very rough adjustment to a new school, I went ahead and went with his request to make sugar cookies. The kids helped me with rolling them out and cutting them out, and we were all covered in flour by the time that part was over. They also helped frost. It was a fun activity.

Zoo Day

On Wednesday, January 14, Westley had a short day at school, so we decided to use our year family zoo pass and go to the zoo. It was a very enjoyable day. We picked Westley up from school at lunchtime, which was when they got out of school, and went straight to the zoo. We were there until about 4 pm, and then we headed home, stopping at the Tempe In-N-Out on the way for some dinner.

This is Eliza looking in at the African Savannah, from underneath the tree house that overlooks it. That's where they have the giraffes, ostriches, and some other creatures commonly found on the Savannah.
This is all four kids up in the tree house that overlooks the African Savannah.
This is Travis sitting on a frog statue near the Forect of Uco. The Phoenix Zoo has a section of animals from the forests of South America, and it is set up to look like a little South American village in the middle of a forest. This is where this picture was taken.
Caleb in front of the tortoises. I'm not sure which tortoise this is, probably a Galapagos, but these turtles live to be well over one hundred years old, as the zoo employee was explaining.

After visiting the zoo and seeing the animals, we stopped at the carousel for a ride. The kids loved it.




We have since gone to the zoo one more time, last Saturday, but that time it was me with the kids and Uncle Austin, as Daddy had to work. This picture below is of Austin and the kids in the Forest of Uco, in a shack that's supposed to look like the digs of a research expedition.

Sleeping Angel

Sweet Eliza fell asleep while eating lunch a couple weeks ago. She was so cute, we had to get a picture. I think we now have a picture of each of our kids sleeping in the high chair.

Eliza's Birthday Cake

We finally had a birthday cake celebration for Eliza's first birthday. It was only about a month after her first birthday. Jenny and Toby and their family came over for it, on Sunday, January 11th, which was our second Sunday back in our house. Corey just happened to have the 4th and the 11th off of work, so he was able to be home all day both days. I made a chocolate marble cake with chocolate frosting in the shape of a heart and we decorated it with sprinkles and marshmallows. The boys were sure excited for her, but I think she just caught on to the excitement and was excited because they were. But it was so cute.

Here she is eating her yummy cake. Eliza has a definite sweet tooth, as I'm sure most babies do. Anytime anybody has a treat, if we don't hide it from her, she will follow us around until she gets some. She was especially excited when she saw the cake, having had cake for my birthday and Corey's.
I can't believe my little girl is 1 year old!

New Pajamas

Nana, Corey's mom, gave us new pajamas for Christmas. We love getting the matching pajamas from her for Christmas. Unfortunately, someone had to take the picture, so Corey isn't in it, but he was wearing his matching pajamas too. Maybe I should have taken a separate picture of him to post here.

Soggy Cereal

I hate soggy cereal. Yet, it seems to follow me everywhere. It seems that the children watch and wait until I pour that milk into my bowl and then all chaos erupts and I have to resolve whatever issues there are before I can eat my bowl of cereal, which, by that time, is nothing but sog. It is my curse.

Welcome Back!

So we moved back to our house in Queen Creek. On the first Sunday here we were surprised to see that Westley and Caleb were both already on the Primary lists and assigned to classes (though Travis wasn't included on the nursery list). Anyway, I was quite surprised when after church, Westley came bounding up to me, thrusting a paper into my hand. It read: "Westley has been assigned to give a talk in Primary on January 11th." Then it gave the topic, which was "I am a spirit child of Heavenly Father."

I guess I was surprised that he was assigned to speak already, partly because he never spoke in the ward in Mesa. Usually in Primary, everybody gets a chance to speak at least once during the year, but they never added Westley or Caleb to the list, so neither of them ever spoke.

Westley and I sat down on Saturday morning, which was the first chance we had, to prepare his talk. We talked about what it meant to be a spirit child of Heavenly Father, and then I wrote it down. Then I typed it up for him and drew smiley faces after each paragraph where he needed to look up at the group, so he wouldn't stand there reading with his head down the whole time. He practiced it several times on Saturday and even went through it a couple times Sunday morning before church (which is at 8 a.m.!).

Well, we went in to listen, and he did great! He didn't look up on his cues, but he read loudly and clearly and did so without his head down. And his reading was very smooth and understandable. Not only that, but somehow everyone in the room managed to stay quiet during the talk as well. I would like to work on having him give memorized talks more in the future, but given that he was assigned a talk just after his first week in a new school, and we spent all week focusing on that, we had little time to prepare on Saturday morning. But I still felt he did a great job.

Bedtime Battles

I loathe the hours of 4 pm to 8 pm. They are the worst hours of any day. Around 4 is when I'm usually trying to get dinner started, or at least that's when the fussiness starts. Then it's making dinner, then getting through dinner, cleaning up from dinner, but the worst is what comes next--bedtime.

Bedtime has become such an ordeal in our house. I don't really know why. We've established a routine since the children were very small. We've always stuck to that routine, except for when the occasional change in schedule warrants a change in bedtime routine also. The children know that after dinner they follow their bedtime chart and get ready for bed. We read books, say prayers, and have songs that we sing. Then it's a goodnight kiss and hug and we leave the room.

Yet every night it's the same struggle. After we leave, we have different visitors come out at least three times, if not more. The excuses are all the same: thirsty, bathroom, fix my blanket, more hugs and kisses, etc. When they finally do go to sleep, I'm so exhausted by the whole ordeal that anything I was planning on doing gets pushed aside and I waste away the rest of the evening. Not to mention that their "bedtime" is supposed to be no later than 7:30, but it's usually 8:30/9:00 by the time we stop seeing them make appearances.

Some days I think that they will never learn to just go to bed and that sleep is a wonderful thing. I wish they would learn that. I could certainly use more of that sleep! I just don't understand why it evolves into a battle every single night. Why couldn't they resist only once in a while instead of every single night? I realize it gets a little better as they get older, for the fact that Westley doesn't usually put up much of a fight anymore, but even sometimes (like tonight) he still has a rough episode or two, and that's enough to wipe me out!