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.

Family Photo Shoot

We have never done a real photo shoot before, we paid money for it and everything! We had a good time at a beautiful park in Cedar Hills and my friend Colette got some great shots. Here are a few...








I sure have good looking kids, if I do say so myself. =)

Happy Birthday Audrey!

Audrey turned 6 this year! Kids grow up so fast!

We got her a Razor scooter and she had her very first friend party.

She wanted a beach party in our backyard. Everyone that she invited came!
She had more presents to open than at Christmas!

They had a blast with the slip-n-slide, pool and trampoline. They also decorated flip flops.

She wanted a beach ball for her cake. It had rainbow swirls inside!

She got a free breakfast at Denny's with her dad and got a free pass to Boondocks thanks to a dad who is great at signing her up for free birthday treats. She loved the bumper boats!

I love you Audrey and am proud of the girl you are becoming. I love your sense of humor and how you are so helpful with Claire.

A Month in Pictures

It's been one month since I've blogged, let's see what we did...

Curtis and I both Turned 30!


He got me an iphone, so now my boys sit like this all the time:

I got him U2 tickets!

We had an AWESOME time. My mom watched the kids for us. We didn't get home until 1:30am. I think concerts like this are for the young, we were wiped, but had a wonderful time.

We had a big birthday party. We filled our backyard with lots of friends and family. What a way to celebrate 30 years of life! =)



We fixed up all our bikes and Nathan earned a big boy bike! He does really well. In his words, he "rides around and around and around!" The weather has been so cold and wet all month that we have only been able to go on a couple of rides as a family.

We went to the school carnival where they had swings, bouncy houses,
cotton candy and shaved ice.

We discovered a new park in Alpine that has several parks designed to make you throw-up.

And it has a splash pad too. I'm sure we'll be visiting there lots if the weather ever gets warmer.



Though Claire is not quite crawling, she can get ANYWHERE she wants
and often gets stuck under the chairs.


I've started eating better again. I don't think I'll go as crazy as I did before, but I have ballooned since eating like most people do, so I know I just can't live that way.
Green smoothies are back on the menu.


Even Claire loves them and believe it or not Audrey has been requesting them.


I've also started making my own bread and grinding my own wheat. I found a K-Tec Grain Mill on KSL for $15. The whole family loves the bread I make. Audrey says, "Yes! You're making bread again!" The recipe I use is here: http://www.simplehealthytasty.com/2010/09/best-yet-whole-wheat-bread_07.html
Her whole blog is packed with great whole food recipes.
We have also been enjoying Bountiful Baskets.
And the kids love mangoes. I can't cut them quick enough.


I have cute kids and I enjoy being their mom.

Audrey's New Desk

I wanted to try my hand at refinishing furniture again and there was a perfect place for a desk in Audrey's room. I found an ugly little desk for $10 at DI and spent another $10 on paint, contact paper and stickers.

Before

After

We even organized all the coloring supplies. She loves it and has spent lots of time sitting, writing and painting. Oh and I found a pink swivel chair in the As Is section at Ikea for only $10.
She is one happy girl.

The Tooth Fairy

Audrey's tooth finally fell out and the Tooth Fairy brought her the promised Zhu-Zhu Pet (actually it is a Furry Fenzy, same thing right?). So today we made it a tutu, a sleeping bag and a sling carrier (like a purse for Audrey to carry it around in). Now Nathan really wants one, so I said when he makes it all day without getting his underwear wet we will go buy him one. Day 3 and I have cleaned up more poop and pee than I care to. I think he's just not ready yet, but we'll keep trying.

No You Get Out!!!

This is what happens when you have two kids but only one bucket.
I ended up having to hide the bucket to get them to stop.





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Audrey is a Kindergartner!

Today was Audrey's first day of kindergarten. She was a little nervous last night and even ended up sleeping on the floor in our bedroom last night, but this morning she said she was excited to go to school and she happily went on her way with the teacher when it was time. She is excited that two of her friends from preschool are in her class again this year.




We are so proud of her!

Happy Birthday Audrey!

Audrey is so happy to be 5! She says she's grown and is brave now. She got a new dresser, a new outfit, 5 bills (four $1 and 1 $2) from Grandma Judy, and will get gymnastic lessons in August. She chose a butterfly cupcake cake for her birthday, easy for me! We also had a lot of fun at Boondock's.

R.I.P. Goldie

Back in January of 2007, I bought Audrey two fish. It didn't take too long before one of them died and we kind of expected the next to follow since we only paid 26 cents for them. But here it is 3 1/2 years later and we are finally saying good-bye. I'm sorry to say it is probably my fault.

Back in December my mom cleaned the fish tank for me after about a year of algae growth. Audrey was so surprised to see Goldie (who was once named Jack) so big. She had no idea she had a big fish and Nathan was happy to actually see the fish for the first time in his memory. So here it is 6 months later and we couldn't see the fish through the algae again. I thought it would be nice to get a tank that cleaned it's self, so I bought a mermaid tank and a sucker fish. The wimpy little filter didn't seem to work. The sucker fish died in less than two weeks and I returned the cheap tank that got cloudy faster than the first. I really hoped that even though Goldie was looking a little sad, that a new tank would make all the difference. Goldie died while we were at the pet store buying a new tank with a bigger filter.

We will miss you Goldie. What a tough fish.

Highland Splash Park

We went to the Splash Park in Highland yesterday for Family Home Evening. It was really fun. Nathan was done being splash before Audrey, but we will definitely be going back this summer.

Painting the Fence

I bought fence paint over a year ago, but last summer came to fast and hot. I finally started painting today. We have a big fence and we have to do both sides on three of the lengths around our house. I hope to do a little each day before it gets too hot. Audrey and Nathan are great helpers (for about 10 minutes).

Disneyland!

We had a wonderful time at Disneyland a couple weeks ago.
This was our first time together and with kids. My sister Alaura came with us.
It was so nice to have her help. We spent all day at the park, from 8:30am to 12:00 am.
We wore ourselves out, but we were able to do everything we wanted to in just one day with our Give-a-Day, Get-a-Day Passes.

Nathan had talked about meeting Mickey and shaking his hand for a long time before the trip. He was so excited and proud of himself for actually getting to do it.

Minnie walked right up to us as we were playing in Toon Town.

Audrey loved the big roller coaster type rides, like Splash Mountain and Space Mountain.
We were surprised because she's usually such a scared-y cat.

Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!
The ride broke down while we where on it so we were actually able to walk
right by Buzz as we were escorted out. Nathan was in heaven.

This princess mickey hat is the only souvenir we bought. Nathan really wanted a Buzz Lightyear spinner, but the prices are out of this world. You would think the park would realize that if the prices were lower they would sell more, but I guess we are unusually cheap, we even shared a meal for dinner and packed PB&J for lunch.

The line to meet the princesses was really long and slow. We were almost at the beginning when the kids started crying and saying they didn't want to meet them anymore.
I stuck it out and they were both glad to meet them.

We really wore Nathan out. He fell asleep in our arms at about 9:30pm and only woke up for the Pooh Ride, which we went on twice while Curtis and Alaura rode Indiana Jones.

Our hotel room was ok, a cheap Days Inn within walking distance
from the park that we got for free using our credit card points.
It had an extra room with a 3rd queen size bed and an additional full bath,
but the pool was freezing, the "hot tub" was cold and green and the towels were like sand paper.
We were all a little disappointed since we were really looking forward to swimming. Next time I will read customer reviews before a book a hotel.

Curtis made a matching game with more pic and details. You can play it here: http://matchthememory.com/gibbydisneyland