Elliot's Big Girl chart

So no picture with this post, frown, but I'm too lazy!

I've been struggling with Elliot's lack of interest in becoming independent lately. Don't all 4 year olds want to do things themselves? Some things she wants too,but usually those are the things I don't want her too. Like salting her own food at dinner...not a good idea.

But mostly it's "you do it" which includes: seat belts, getting dressed, going potty at home (she wants to be walked there, lights turned on for her, and bum wiped), cleaning up, and any chore like task. Grrr... I've been pulling my hair out, especially the bathroom issue, she will pee her pants if I don't escort her to the bathroom and turn on the light for her!!! She isn't just pre occupied with toys, no she will be potty dancing outside of the bathroom waiting for me.

Thank goodness for CHARTS! A Few simple boxes on a piece of paper and the promise of a trip to the dollar store and my 4 year old is on her way to independence. She'll do anything for a smiley face in one of the wonderful boxes. She even went to the bathroom without even telling me yesterday. Heavenly. She's already filled one chart and is working on her second.

Hanging with Griff

Due to a pipe bursting at Griffin's school, he got the day off today. And what do you think he wanted to do?

De-Junk his room!!!

That is my kind of kid. So half way through the toy bins, I realized he was giving a lot away. I made a comment of how proud I was of him, that he was able to let things go.

His reply, "well, most of those things are Miles."

I guess Miles will have to take a look in the box BEFORE it heads to the Salvation Army.

The room looks great!

It's Great To Be 8!

My sweet, sweet Griffin is eight! Sometimes I forget he's younger than the twins, he's always felt like part of the package.

Griffin wanted to just hang out at home for his birthday, including not going to school! It worked out that he had a Dentist appointment in the morning and then we just sort of forgot to take him back to school. Mike, Elliot and I took him out to lunch. Then he wanted to go to Barnes and Nobles and Toys R us. We just hung out and had a great day together.

For dinner we had the Huntings over (minus Steve) for pizza, cake, ice cream, and fun on the Wii. What a great day.

Thanks Hunting for partying with us.

Okay, this last collage needs an explanation. I printed off some funny photos of Griff and made captions to go with them. They were just a little something to make Griff smile on his birthday. He thought Mike did it (because this is totally something Mike would do.) and I felt flattered.
Some great facts about our Griffin:

-He wants to go to Harvarb someday. (no I didn't miss spell that on accident, he calls it Har-verb. Hilarious. Well, if Harvarb doesn't want him, I bet Harvard will!)

-He loves Science, Dinosaurs, Detective stuff, and Sports.

-He is such a great friend. Miles gets to be his best friend and I'm jealous.

-He has a big desire to be good and follow the rules. He is our peacemaker and loves when there is no fighting or yelling in our home.

-He is the boogeriest kid ever! I can always tell he needs to blow his nose. The other day he had a big crusty one hanging out, When I went to flick it, he said, "what are you doing? Picking my nose? This can be our game, pick my nose and I won't let you." He then started softly, but quickly hitting his head against our couch and said, "level 5" HA HA HA.

-Griff cracks me UP! And most the time he's not even trying to be funny! He is just a natural jokester.

Miles, Caleigh and The Bee

Miles and Caleigh both won their classroom spelling bees, which put them in the school spelling bee. I had been bugging them all week to practice and study their words, but they just didn't want to. So I wasn't really expecting much on Friday when they had the school bee.

Hilariously the microphone was inches above Caleigh's head, but she and Miles both made it past round one.

Miles got out in round two with the word, "Auburn." Oh, well, good try, Miles.

Caleigh kept going round after round, until....

There were two left. Caleigh and a 6th grader! I thought for sure the word, "Sashay" would have gotten her out, in a previous round but she was still in it.

Her final word was Suffrage and she spelled it S-u-f-f-e-r-a-g-e. Darn! She was so close. The support from the other 4th graders was so wonderful. So many came up to her and Miles after and told them they did a good job. I was a little emotional at the end. I was so proud of my twins, and especially at my shy little Caleigh. What a brave girl she was to get up there. Honestly I don't think she was nervous at all. She was disappointed she didn't win. There's always next year!

From my new birthday present

I am writing from my early birthday present... aNOOK Color. It is AWESOME! Thanks to Frankie and Tom's birthday check and my sweet husband and kids I am spoiled with this fun new Toy! I would put a picture here if I knew How? Oh well I guess I'll still need the laptop for Something!

Snow 2011

I was beginning to think winter wasn't coming this year. We had one small storm, but it was mostly gone by the time this one hit. Phew! Honestly I don't mind the snow at all, as long as I don't have to drive in it. School was canceled and the kids got to play a little outside. Mike was grateful to have the snow blower, and I was too.

Farther south the storm was much worse, and our thoughts and prayers were with those people. We know what it feels like to not have power! Welcome winter, let the sledding season begin.

Elliot has great comedic timing

Elliot reminds me so much of Miles at her age. (Although she is a bit calmer than 4 year old Miles.) The one trait they really have in common, is their ability to come up with one liners. They both say things that really crack me up. Elliot came up with a good one today...

We were shopping all day ( I mean all day), Elliot is usually really good about shopping but today she had a terrible case of the "I want this" and she just wouldn't put stuff back. In her defense she did just finish up with Christmas and Birthday and has been buying stuff with birthday/Christmas money. So she has been getting a lot of stuff lately, but she doesn't quite get the concept of the gift card. The money eventually runs out. So after like the 6th store of her crying because she couldn't get something, I tried to explain to her she was not getting any more toys! Ever! (I was using my stern voice) She said, "Ever! really?" Phew, it's sinking in I thought. Then she says, "Ever mom? Stop the crazy talk." Ha Ha Ha I couldn't stop smiling. I tried hard not to laugh out loud because she really doesn't like that. Griff laughed at her at dinner one night and she told him to "shut it down." What a character!

Happy, Happy Birthday Elli dear...

My sweet little girl is 4. She had such a wonderful birthday. She kept saying throughout the day, "This is so kind." or "This is so wonderful." She was really grateful for all the gifts and phone calls. (thanks you for everyone who helped make the day special).

Elliot is a amazing little girl with so much life in her. She can be stubborn and hard to deal with at times, but she's always quick to say sorry and give you comfort if she thinks your hurt or feel bad. She loves to play with her sister and brothers. She will share most everything with them. Her brothers especially give her tons of attention and think she is the cutest thing ever. Caleigh is even coming around to her cuteness. I'm so grateful Elli is a part of our family. Elliot humor really cracks me up. The other day she was looking at our blog book and she found a picture that must have missed being edited because she said, "I think I'm becoming a Vampire, my eyes are red in this picture." She was so serious when she said it. Hilarious.

Another time we were working on reading and we were on "ap" words. Ex: nap, tap, gap, and we were sounding out the word s-a-p and she said, "Oh, sap, like s'up dudes." Then she started giggling.

I love my little girl.

A quick trivia about Elliot; She has the most nicknames in our family. They include:

Ell-J

Jellybean

Junebug

Elli

Ell

June (her middle name)

Ells (which goes great with Hells-Ells when I'm frustrated)

Elly Belly

Bells

Belly

and

Wild Women

A recap of our year.

Phew! Another year down and a few more to go till Mike is finished with school and we just might get to settle down somewhere. Luckily we are still having a blast living here on the East Coast. Here's a quick recap of the year... (mostly this is fun for me to reminisce).

Jan- I turned 31, Griff turned 7, and "Ell-J" turned 3. Mike also reached his goal weigh (and has kept it off the whole year.) Elliot also had her first trip to the dentist.

Feb- not much going on, except Valentines Day. I'm already looking forward to making Chocolate boxes for my valentines.

March-We had to bid farewell to the Titus family (but we love hearing about their Russian adventures), Grandpa Tom visited, Mike was put in to the Bishopric, and the snow finally left NH.

April-Baseball and Softball season started, we started the wonderful process of moving, and I booked our flights to Boise.

May-We moved into our new home (still known to us and all as the Titus home), Aunt Tracy moves to Maine (just for the summer), Grandma and Grandpa Peterson come to stay at Aunt Tracy's beach house, and Miles and Caleigh have their first piano recital.

June- Mike turns 33, and we play, play, play with family, and at the beach. We love Summer!

July- We play more at the beach, and then head to Boise, ID for a wonderful month long vacation. The twinners turn 9.

Aug.- We enjoy family and friends on our vacation, we head to Utah for time with Utah Petersons, Mike and I celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary, and the kiddos are back in school (didn't it just end?)

Sept.-Elliot starts dance class, and we get our annual visit from Aunt Tracy. Fall can begin!

Oct.- Miles runs for student council and wins, and we learn about 3 new babies that will be joining our family.

Nov.- We are truly blessed with family this month. G and G Peterson come to New England and we get to visit with them and enjoy a parade, Gpa and Gma Head celebrate Thanksgiving with us and we love having them.

Dec.- The whole month was spent enjoying the Christmas season. We served a little, laughed a lot, and remembered that our Saviour lives and loves us.

What a great year!!!

New Years Eve

We spent another New Years Eve partying at the Hunting homes with wonderful friends and food. The kids ran around and had a great time. Caleigh was feeling sick that night and didn't do too much running around, but still had a good time. We had our annual white elephant gift exchange. I was able to get rid of one of Mikes books and some chocolate. I came home with cucumber melon soap, lotion, body spray, and what is quickly becoming my new favorite lipgloss. Score! We played some games, laughed, talked and rang in the new year, a little early (around 9:30pm) with pots and pans and toasts all around. The kids especially love opening the front door and banging on their pots and pans. When else can they make so much noise.

My little reader

Elliot has been fascinated with learning her letters lately. She points them out where ever we go. So I decided, since I have nothing going on during the day, that I would teach her to read. I wasn't that hopeful, she's only 3 (until Jan. 3rd, then she'll be 4). But I thought it was worth a try. After all, she is the one who keeps bringing it up!

We broke out Griffin's hooked on Phonics set, and got to work on learning all of her letters and sounds. She picked up on them pretty quickly (she still confuses a few.) I even enlisted the kids help asking them to point out letters when they read to her books. They were more than happy to help.

And I'm happy to report tonight, she read her first words!!! I was so proud of her. She read cat, hat, pat, mat, sat, fat (which made her giggle), and rat. Then she read a story: Cat. Rat. Cat sat. Rat sat. Cat, sat, sat, sat. Rat, sat, sat, sat. Fat, fat, cat. Fat, fat, rat.

I have a feeling she's been able to read for years, she's just humoring me by starting at the beginning.

Winter has begun

We've had a few light snow days, but finally we got one that brought enough snow to play in. The kids were excited to try out some of their Christmas gifts. Griff did pretty good on his "snowboard." And all the kids loved putting together a snowman. Sadly he has melted away...for now. It won't be long before we have more snow to play in.

Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Day. We missed family and friends very much, but had wonderful people to spend the holiday with. The Huntings hosted a great Christmas Eve party with Fondue (of course) and a chocolate fountain. The children entertained us with dancing and carols. It was so much fun.

After the par-tay we headed home to open one present and then to get the kids in bed. The girls made beds in the boys room and they all fell asleep by 9 pm. Wish that would happen every night

Then after weeks of waiting it was finally Christmas morning. The kids were wonderful. They were so grateful for all of their presents, and they were wonderful at sharing with each other. It was a great Christmas morning (with breakfast burrito) and tons of wrapping paper everywhere! Griffin and Caleigh had been busy all week making presents for everyone. Not only did Griffin make things for Mike and I but he also gave every one in the family one of his most prized possession. I was the recipients of his sea glass collection. I am so grateful for my wonderful family.

A proud moment

Miles and Caleigh received their report cards last week and Mike and I were so pleased that they both had earned straight A's!!! Their school holds an honor assembly giving out various awards. Miles and Caleigh both got an award for their straight A's.

They both work so hard on their homework and I'm so proud of them. I'm grateful that they both have teachers that seem to fit their personality. It makes such a difference to send them to school knowing they enjoy it. Good job Miles and Caleigh.

This year's Nativity

Our ward had a Christmas Linger longer and the primary children performed the Nativity. Griffin got to be Joseph, Miles a Wiseman, Elliot an Angel, and Caleigh did a wonderful job as the Narrator. It was so wonderful to watch. Elliot cracked me up. She kept singing opera and insisting I take pictures. Then she would run over to see the pictures during the play.