A Little Advice?

My heart is hurting a little today. This morning Audrey told me that most of her classmates don't like her, they say that she is not their friend. It brings back my own memories of the mean things kids said and did to me when I was in elementary school. I don't want her to experience that. I responded by saying that the important thing is that she is kind to everyone and that it is their loss if they choose not to be her friend because she is so fun and nice. But how does that make it better?

She didn't mention this problem before, but I think kids in kindergarten weren't in the "cliquey" mode yet, but why does it need to ever start, why can't all play with all? Why does there have to be friend separation? Twice now a neighbor girl has told Audrey that she wasn't allowed to play with her and another friend who Audrey knows well. She came home crying and the second time I was able to go out and talk to this girl. Her mom told her she wasn't allowed to play with kids that her parents didn't know their parents. I explained who we were and that we do know her parents, then she played. But I wondered why the other friend didn't stick up for her, and why are parents teaching their kids to exclude others? I know it's a safety thing, but it seems like the girl was using it as an excuse to exclude another girl she didn't know as well.

I probably am making a bigger deal out of this than it is, or am I? What can I do to help Audrey feel included? Why are kids telling her they aren't her friend? It makes me sad.

Other Projects...

I have had some other projects I've been doing, but haven't had time to share them. Here are a few:

Our cabinets have suffered from water damage. After some research, I determined I could re-vanish them myself.

A little "sanding" and vanishing later and I have like new cabinets!


My sisters silently complained about my messy utility drawer, so I looked at separators at Ikea, but thought they were a little pricey.

So I bought a sheet of foam board at Hobby Lobby for less than $2
and used some white duct tape and vua-la!

I have been looking at blogs that have done the fake wainscoting or board and baton for a long time. I finally got up the courage to mention it to Curtis in conjunction with a way to keep the kids coats off the floor and he said yes!

I got to use a neighbors electric nail gun! It was so fun and easy! I only did this corner for now. Eventually I want to bring it up the stairs.

Today I felt like being crafty so I made some bibs. I have three friends on the street who are all due around the same time as me, but they are all having girls. I can't make just one, that wouldn't be fair!

Bathroom Remodel

Long ago, well not SO long ago, it was since Claire has been around, I told Curtis that the next time he got me pregnant he needs to remodel the bathroom with a nice big tub for me. Well, he held true to his promise. We used our tax return to rip out the old dinky tub and install a separate tub and shower.

Before

During

After

We hired the work to be done by Steve at Creative Tile Works. It was so nice to not have to do the whole project like usual and he did it all: ripping out, plumbing, framing, tiling, electrical and drywall. It has been a couple of weeks and things aren't quite done. Steve took longer than he thought to finish and he had to do a job out of town for a week. He thought the shower was usable, but that same day this happened:

A leak!
That's in our ceiling in the family room downstairs, under our bathroom. Steve knows exactly what happened and will be back on Monday to fix it and to finish up the drywall work and caulking. In the mean time, the bath has been calling my name, yet it sits empty, waiting.

Playing Catch Up...

Ok, so let's see what the Gibbys have been up to this winter...

Saint George

We invited our good friends to go with us to the condo in St. George.

We visited Tuachan, saw Santa, some dancers and the lights

We went swimming at the Aquatic Center.
The water was a little cold for our liking, but it had some fun features for the kids.

And we shared toothbrushes and snacks, well at least Luke and Claire did.

We played games and Debbie and I enjoyed talking about nutrition.
I think the men just tried to tune us out. =) We had a great time.

Christmas

We acted out the Nativity. Here, Curtis is a Shepard and Nathan is an angel.

I made Becca and Addy aprons so they could cook together in the kitchen.

The stockings we candy free, I was proud of myself and the kids were happy.

We went to the festivities at The Riverwoods in Provo and after waiting half an hour to see Santa, Nathan was the only one willing to sit on his lap!

Though there was a little more screeching that usual,
the kids enjoyed having their cousin Addy here for a month
and I enjoyed having my sister around!

Snow, or No Snow, is more like it!

This has been the mildest winter I have ever seen in Utah. The kids tried to make snowmen the first chance they got. Today was the second good snow, we'll see if we end up with a little snowman family in our yard.

A Date

Curtis and I went shooting on a date. We didn't really know what wee were doing, but we had a good time. I was actually a better shot than Curtis. My mom kindly watched the kids for us. We are so lucky to have her nearby.

Valentine's Day


The kids gave their friends crazy straws for V-day.
The finished product looked like Audrey and Nathan we actually holding the straws.

Butter
Claire loves butter, she'll eat it by the forkful.
I'm glad I know organic butter is good for her.
She is still thin and I'm glad she can enjoy it.

It's a Boy!

Because of the cost of getting a medical ultrasound done, we chose to go to Fetal Fotos to find out if this little one was a girl or a boy. Even Audrey is excited that she is having a brother (When we didn't know what Claire was, she had said she would be very sad if it was a boy, but now she has her sister, so a brother is just fine.). I can already tell he is going to be a sweet, cute guy.

The pregnancy is going really well. No complications or concerns. I am 26 weeks tomorrow and am feeling quite well and blessed. My one hope is to keep myself from gaining too much weight, which I always have before. So far I have only gained 8lbs, not too bad, but the second half is when it all packs on. If I could just stop craving chocolate. =)

I am worried about the circus that my home will become with four running around making messes, I can hardly keep up with it as it is, but life goes on, I'll just need to take it day by day.

Though it could change, we are thinking that this little man's name will be Benjamin David.