Chickens

Every spring (well for the last three years) we have gotten baby chicks. They are so cute, but then again everything little is cute. The kids love having them and get so excited when they get some new tiny chicks. This year we got a few chicks from IFA, but the big project was to attempt hatching some of our own. For some reason I didn't take pictures of the big event. Suffice it to say that the kids and I (mostly importantly I) will still eat eggs. It was a little questionable at first. We borrowed an incubator and had to turn the eggs every day, but right on schedule those chicks began to hatch. We watched a few peck their way out and then we were good with our experience. When they hatched while Kade was at work, I saw the great learning opportunity for Rhett and let him take care of them!!! :)

Laynee was good with just petting the chicks and letting dad hold them. She named one Snow White. Creative, I know and oddly enough it was a black chicken.

Rhett, on the other hand, loved to be able to hold the chicks and get them in and out himself. Addy REALLY liked to spend time out in the garage looking at and touching them and Rhett was really nice to humor her.....a lot. He's named a chicken Han. Any guesses why?

Sick Day

This winter seems to have been filled with lots more sickness than usual. Or maybe I notice it more because I have three kids. Or because Rhett is in school now with hundreds of other kids. Anyhow, Rhett got the flu. He was sick from Saturday thru Wednesday. My rule is that they stay in their rooms for the duration. I will accommodate them in any way, but they have to stay put!! The two reasons for this are: no spreading of the germs and weeding out the fakers--it's not that much fun in their rooms, or so I thought. By the end of Rhett's sickness I was starting to wonder. He hadn't thrown up for a half of a day so I started by making him come out to have lunch--to which he told me, "Dad let's me have macaroni and cheese in my room." I guess with the video player and the new addition of a Nintendo DS (thanks Santa) Rhett can feel pretty fulfilled right there in his room. Great.

Valentines Day!

I love holidays. Any holiday--and to me any old Tuesday could be a holiday. I just like the excuse to do something fun and have sugar. My favorite memories of Valentine's Day are of delivering sugar cookies and taking around our friend valentines and RUNNING FOR OUR LIVES! We lived out in the fields and our friends houses were VERY HARD to get away from with out being caught. It was terrible to get caught and some of them would hunt us down! It was very stressful to me. So....every valentine's our kids get to--you guessed it--make sugar cookies and ring and run!! In all the valentines we delivered, we were only caught twice. First by Grandma Ellen (to be fair she hunted us down) and by GREAT Grandpa Bill. It's not that these people are necessarily faster than all the children we delivered to. They must just be a lot wiser to the ways of this particular holiday. Not everyone rings and runs anymore. To me, those are the GREATEST simple traditions that need to go on.

As usual only Addy ended up with a picture. Grandma Sandra and Grandpa Jim brought treats by for the kids. Addy got an entire box of Junior mints which Grandma just handed her (I wonder why they like the grandparents so much....) Addy would not let anyone have one or give the box back. If you held out your hand, she would possesively hug the box. Oh well, it was a holiday after all!!!!

**NOTE: Notice the fangs! All three of my kids have had their top front teeth come in like that! Too bad they weren't in at Halloween time!

More Trouble

It seems like lately all my pictures are of Addy. I really don't play favorites, it just that when things are going along nicely and I am usually trying to take advantage of the peace and get something done. When trouble (aka Addy) is lurking about, I have more reason to need the camera--proof of the stories Kade thinks I am making up!! Sorry Rhett and Laynee. I am hoping it is just a phase!!

Addy loves to play on top of the little table. Usually she is standing and spinning the umbrella around and around. I keep moving the table so she doesn't burn a hole in the carpet. (Would that be possible?)

WARNING: **DON'T USE THE KID PLATES OR CUPS**

At our house we put the kids dishes and cups in a lower cupboard so they could get their own drinks and set the table, etc. Genius, right?!? Not so much anymore. Addy is into everything. My mom was over one day and watched her get into everything to the point that my mom would say, "Do we need to wash this before we use it?" To look at it positively--she does know how to get her own cup and fill it with cereal for a snack.

Milestones

While we've been away from our blogging (I know I am terrible at this), we've accomplished some good stuff.

Rhett has finally caught the vision of reading. I decided he wasn't going to learn everything he needed to know in Kindergarten unless I helped (he's so lucky to have such a smart mom that could figure that out halfway through the year!) We started working really hard on our sight word and having him trying to read his take home books more. We also found a great section at the library of superhero books that he can actually read. He is really starting to enjoy it!

Laynee got to go into Primary in January! She was so excited to go. She had the dress picked out to wear the very first week of Primary two weeks in advance. She got to go to the store and pick out her own scripture bag and get a Book of Mormon with her name on it. And then...she got sick. Both she and Rhett missed the first week. But!! Week two she was still prepared and so excited. We did some extra primping and were ready about three hours before church. All through sacrament she keep asking how much longer. When we got to the closing song, she cracked! Suddenly she didn't want to go anymore, primary was boring and she started to cry. She ended up being convinced, going and loving Primary!

As for Addy, we made it big in the last month! I am happy and thrilled to report that we have her watching tv. Baby Einstein--so it is entirely educational, wholesome and DISTRACTING! She will watch for up to 8.6 minutes at a time which allows me options. It's amazing and I am glad to have a small break--refer to previous post "Deceptive Destroyer!"
And in other big news, I was able to gather together enough hair to make a "girl-do" and add a "clippy" so Addy can quickly be spotted as a GIRL! Although in the picture she is only wearing a white onesie because she is excellent with zippers and had removed her cute, purple sweater which may be the reason for the gender confusion problems.

The Deceptive Destroyer

Innocent looking, right?! Addy owns the house these days. She can do stairs, doors, drawers, and find stools to increase her options with the aforementioned things. She is wearing me out!!!! She loves shoes (and purses--girls come programmed that way at our house) and is always in our closets taking them out. She loves cups and bowls and helping herself to the cereal. She knows where to find fingernail polish and unzip bags. She doesn't touch the toilet paper on the wall though. She goes for the brand new rolls in the bathroom cupboard behind the door and shreds entire rolls at at time. She loves Laynee's prized treasures and Rhett's gum. She can get Cd's out of the computer and break picture frames with ease. And the moss in the bottom of silk trees---ours is all taken care of. That is disgusting (and creepy) stuff to fish out of mouths. I once considered myself semi-clean and orderly. Not anymore.

Chillin' at the Cabin

Way back in January, we went up to Cedar Mountain for the day. Grandma and Grandpa invited us up to play in the snow. Since there is no snow in St. George, the kids had a blast playing. Rhett and I made snow angels--mine was better since I have the weight advantage!! :) They used all the sand toys to build, dig and destroy. It was a fun day trip!

We had a hard time finding really good packing snow--so no snowman.

The boys on a ride. Laynee just wanted to play in the snow. She wasn't interested in the snowmobile. I didn't want to smell like smoke. We are an adventuresome bunch!