Kay talk

During one of her visits to the hospital to see me, Kay sat down next to me on the couch and asked, "Mom, can I be your nurse?" When I told her yes, she proceeded to pick up some of my food from off of my tray and feed it to me.

Kay talk

Today at the dinner table, the discussion of germs came up after DH sneezed. Kay said to him, "What are germs?" So we tried explaining to her that germs are bad things that get passed around and they can make you sick, that's why you need to wash your hands and be careful how you cough and sneeze around other people.

Kay then asked her dad, "But what color are they? Are they purple? Are they Daddy?"

After laughing about that for a few minutes we tried explaining to Kay that germs are too small to see and that you need a microscope to see them. To which she responded, "What's a microspoke?"


A little while later I was in the family room with some of the kids helping M&M with some math homework when Kay found some play soap we have for the girls' dolls. I asked Kay to come over to me and rub it on my head because it would make it feel good. She thought that was a good idea so she came over to me on the couch and started rubbing my head with it and then said, "Here, I'll make your hair grow back."


Kay had the hardest time saying the word "hospital". Usually it came out as "hopsital" or "hopsistol".

Lost and found

Sunday, December 25, 2011

DH woke M&M up early Sunday morning so she could help him get the younger girls get ready for church. After she was finished getting them ready and went downstairs to get herself ready, DH went down to see what was taking her so long. He found her in her room very upset because she couldn't find her glasses. After helping her look for a minute DH had to go back upstairs to help out the other kids in the kitchen when M&M came upstairs laughing. She had looked at herself in the mirror and realized that her glasses were right there on her face!!

Observant three year old

Today I dropped M&M off at her piano lesson and then drove the opposite way I usually do leaving the piano teacher's house. As soon as I did that Kay piped up from the back of the minivan, "Hey, you're going the wrong way!"

Overcoming her fear!

See these rocks that MJ is holding? Well, they are fairly strong magnets that when you toss them up in the air, make noises as they rub up against each other and they have a fairly strong attraction so when you hold one and put the other close to it, it will move over to it. MJ has been absolutely terrified of these stones. DH would take pleasure in torturing MJ by bringing the stones out and trying to force her to hold one and then have it move her hand over to the other one. She would run to me in fear each time DH got them out and played with them (or any of the kids). Well, tonight Kay was playing with them and I didn't think anything of it until I went to check on the laundry and there was MJ sitting in the middle of the floor playing with them! You could tell she was a little tentative at first and she still blinks her eyes when they touch, but each time she would pull them apart and then put them back together and then she would clap her hands and get a big smile on her face. It was really cute to watch. I told her to go show them to her daddy so she went downstairs where he was and walked in carrying them with a big smile on her face! What a cutie!

Christmas lights

This year we just haven't had the time or the good weather to get the lights up on the house. DH was content not to do anything, but I wanted at least something up so M&M and I took some time on Saturday to check out the lights and put them up above the front porch, on the bushes and out on one of the trees in the yard. The weather wasn't too bad so the younger kids played out front while we were doing it. (When MJ finally came in her hands were absolutely freezing and it took a while to warm her up and get her to sleep for her nap.) The kids love the lights and I think it's better than nothing!

Kay talk

MJ has never liked sitting in her high chair. During dinner we are constantly battling with her to try and get her to stay sitting in her seat and actually eating her food. Sometimes when she eats breakfast at a different time than Kay, I will just put MJ in Kay's booster seat and she seems to do much better there. Quite often at lunchtime I will just let her stand on one of the regular chairs and eat there standing up. We have been talking about just buying another booster seat and getting rid of the high chair - especially since it takes up quite a bit of room. I just haven't gotten around to going to a store that carries booster seats.

Today at dinnertime MJ was standing up once again in her high chair and DH made the comment, "I think we just need to buy another booster seat for MJ to sit in. When you buy one though, make sure that it has a good seatbelt so we can strap her in and not let her out."

Kay responded, "Well, that would be mean!"

(The funny part is that she was even paying attention to what we were discussing and made such an appropriate response!)

Gifts

We've had many neighbors and friends drop by with little gifts for us here and there. One gift we received in the mail was a box of chocolates from a giveaway sponsored by a blog that none of us read. After doing a little bit of detective work we figured out that it was from my sister-in-law who won a giveaway and had the prize sent to us. A few days after that we had some neighbors show up on our doorstep with this gingerbread creation that they said was from someone that wanted to remain anonymous! Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts and gifts!

Thanksgiving Week Pictures 2011

For Thanksgiving this year we had my oldest brother and his family and then my two younger siblings and their families. I think this was the first time that my girls have been outnumbered by their boy cousins! The three siblings that were visiting each have two boys now and no girls, so we had 5 girls and 7 boys! It was a fun day having us all together!

Decorating for Christmas

Saturday, November 26, 2011

We usually decorate for Christmas the Friday and/or Saturday following Thanksgiving. This year I was really motivated to get it done because of my chemo treatment coming up the following Wednesday. The girls were helping me take down the fall/Thanksgiving decorations and then they were helping me get out the boxes with the Christmas decorations and the bag with the tree in it. I really wanted to DH participate with us in getting the tree up so I sent a couple of the girls down to his office to ask him. Apparently Blondie asked him if he was going to help and then Kay put her hand on her dad's arm and looked at him and said, "You will put up the Christmas tree." Apparently that did the trick and he came up to help after that!

Dinosaur Museum

Friday, November 25, 2011

My brother and his family wanted to visit the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point while they were in town. They decided to go in the morning the day after Thanksgiving and I was just going to send a few of my older kids with them and my parents. In the end I decided that since I was feeling fine, I would go with them as well. It was a really fun museum with lots of hands-on exhibits for the kids. They all had a blast! Then I let them each pick out a little something from the Gift Shop afterwards.

Digging for fossils:

Kid talk

Apparently I use the word "nasty" more than I think I do. The other day MJ was eating something and then proceeded to spit it out so it was all over her mouth and hands. I commented and said, "Nasty", and then she kept repeating the word for the next minute or two. Then the following day I was soaking in the bathtub for a few minutes in the morning and MJ came into the bathroom. She saw the water in the tub and reached her hand in to touch the water. After she pulled her hand out, she looked at her hand and said, "Nasty." Then she put her hand in the water again and pulled it out and said, "Nasty" again. It was pretty funny!

Goofy MJ

Sunday, November 20

MJ was being goofy and decided to walk around with this Lincoln Log storage container on her head. Luckily she didn't run into anything and hurt herself!

Future piano player?

MJ is a surprisingly good piano player for her young age. She will sit at the piano and play very gently on the keys - very rarely does she ever pound. With the piano being right in the middle of the house, quite often I am asking whoever is playing to play quieter or wait until a more convenient time. Lately I have called out to see who is playing the piano only to find out that surprisingly it is MJ!

Meeting the new cousin!

Monday, November 21

I finally was able to take the kids over to my sister's house to meet their new cousin. He is almost 2 weeks old at this point. The kids all enjoyed taking a turn holding him. We got there just after he had woken up and my sister was getting ready to feed him. He was surprisingly alert and calm for the little while we were there. We left just as he was starting to get hungry and fussy. Everyone commented on how light he was except for Kitty who thought he was heavy!

Luke with his Utah boy cousins!

Principal's Pride

Thursday, November 17

Luke and Kitty earned the Principal's Pride award on the same day. DH was kind enough to go and take pictures before he went to work that morning. Luke earned it for scoring above 90% on all three of his math tests so far. Kitty earned it for her insect clay sculpture - she made a butterfly.

Yummy chocolate!

A couple of weeks ago one of the Activity Day groups in our ward brought by some chocolate turkey cupcakes that they had made. MJ really enjoyed hers!

Arrow of Light

Tuesday, November 15

Luke earned his Webelos rank advancement as well as his Arrow of Light at Pack Meeting this evening. I wasn't quite feeling 100%, but I was able to make it through the awards ceremony. Good job Luke! We're proud of you and your dedication! I can't believe that he'll be moving up to 11-year old scouts in February!