November 21, 2021

Lexi planted a little 'fairy garden' last week.

 

 

 

Look how much it grew!

 

  

 

On Sunday, we did FHE and then played the 'Thimble game'.  You fill a thimble with water and think of a color. The others guess and if they're right, they get splashed! The kids love this game.  We used a teaspoon this time and these pictures are courtesy of Carson:

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Britton got accepted into Utah State University! He'll start an online class or two in January  I'm sure it was a huge relief to be done with the ACT! There was some worry that maybe he'd have to take it more than once, and honestly, I was planning on it, but I'm sure Brit was thrilled to be done.  As a reward, Brit wanted to go to Good Move Cafe with some of his friends.   

 

From left to right: Ben Smith, Preston Hupp, River Andersen, and Brit.  They're all in deacons together.  Ben and River live on our street.  Preston lives right behind us.

 

 

 

  Ty made this robot from a kiwi crate.

 

 

I decided that when Marin and Sophie babysit, I'll take one kid at a time on a lunch date.  I took Ty this week.  We ran an errand in Orem and drove to The Pizza Factory in Provo.  The door was locked and a paper in the doorway read that they had closed after 23 years! I remember going there when I was younger.  The Spanish Fork location is still open, but we were both so hungry we decided to try Pizza Pie Cafe across the street (they probably helped put The Pizza Factory out of business- lol).  Unfortunately, my phone camera was dirty, but here's Ty with his pepperoni pizza.  We loved the food.  They had a salad and pasta bar.  They also had 10+ pizzas to choose from off a buffet and 6 dessert pizzas.  Tip: go about 15 minutes after they open.  Everything is fresh!  So yummy. 

 

 

 

Lexi's been working on her numbers.  She can almost make it to 20 every time.  Then she gets excited and tries to do all the 30's and 40's, etc.

 

  

 

Landon had a conference this weekend.  It was the one that was supposed to happen in Japan last fall.  They decided to hold it over zoom with people in their own locations.  Since it was an international conference, he had some really weird times for meetings.  One was at midnight!

 

We have begun going dairy free and nut free for Caron's eczema.  His skin has been looking so bad lately.   It's getting to the point that we're having a hard time controlling it and we may have to put him on stronger meds.  Right now we just use cortisone and Vaseline, since all the other eczema lotions and ointments we have tried have not worked. The potential of having to put him on stronger meds gave me the extra energy needed to resolve to go dairy free and nut free for a few weeks and see if it helps.  When he had blood work done in the past, it reported that he had high antibodies for milk and peanuts.  I had forgotten about the peanuts, and in the past, I had given him almond milk (trying to remove dairy).  I wish I would have known, but when I got him tested, to test for other nuts.  Since I didn't, I'm being on the safe side and removing almond milk.  He may be ok with almonds, but he did get a reaction to Nutella about two months ago.  Apparently hazelnuts and almonds share a lot of similar traits.  Luckily, his report said he was fine with wheat, eggs, and soy.  At least I can be grateful for that! If he had a wheat or egg allergy, that would take this to a whole new level of difficulty!

 

 This week I stocked the fridge with food options and removed items from the fridge, freezer, and pantry that he couldn't have.  I just moved it to the downstairs refrigerator and storage room.  It's only been 2-3 days but his skin actually looks a lot better.  I'm crossing my fingers.  I'd be THRILLED if this helps him! It'd be worth all the effort.  Thankfully, it's a bit easier this time around.  I know many meals and snacks that he can have.  It's also helped to remove things that he can't have in the fridge and pantry.  That way, Carson doesn't accidentally help himself.  Also, I know that everything I see is an option.   

I went into Lexi's room last night to turn off her lights and this is what she looked like:

November 14, 2021

Just a normal week.  Ty practicing piano.

Ordering Christmas cards.  I'm an every-other-year type of person.

Lexi did several puzzles.  This one is from the dollar store.  There's a QR code on the back to scan that makes it look like an ocean overlay in your room and you can move the phone around to 'look around' in the ocean. She loved it.

It was our turn to clean the church.  While the bigger boys helped, I babysat Lexi and Carson in the nursery.

Well, last week I mentioned how Carson tells us, "I wuv you." This week, if you didn't do what he liked, he'd say, "I no wuv you!" :-)   Also, while he was eating some sliced apples from a Walmart/ Disney kid snack kit with apples, cheese cubes, and pretzels in it, he said, "Mmm mmm.  Where you buy dis?"  Other times, he'll say, "Mmm mmm! Who makes dis?"  He cracks me up.

Lexi had a science/ art craft.  She planted wheat grass in a bowl with dirt and lots of silver star confetti.  

Cam made two more Minecraft books.

A neighbor gave us several puzzles.  I didn't know that Lexi could do this on her own.  I had told her I wasn't ready to help her with the puzzle, and then she surprised me by putting it together by herself.

Ty made a fun automaton from a Kiwi Crate (Tinker Crate for his age level) subscription box.

 

November 7, 2021

Carson has begun telling me "I wuv you so much".  It's so adorable and melts my heart. Kind of makes up for all the diaper changes and messes ;-)  I've also heard him say it others in the family and it's sweet to hear how they respond.  A day or two ago, I took Carson to the playground in our backyard to push him on the swings.  We've been having a vole digging tunnels in our landscaping and piling dirt on top of the mulch.  I heard the little vole rustling in the tunnel and saw that it was open.  Usually, I'm not there at the right time and the vole has already pushed out the dirt that he wanted removed and covered himself in again.  This time it was still open and so I ran into the house to return with vole poisoning.  I told Carson what I was doing.  We had previously talked about how the vole is eating some of the plants and ruining some stuff and so I'm trying to get rid of him and that Carson should never eat the poison (I cover it up so Carson doesn't get to it).  A few days ago, Carson saw the cover of the vole poison bag and said, "Mom, I wuv him!"  since there was a picture of a rodent on the bag.  It was so cute.   I told him that I love the vole too but I wish I could move him into the woods because he's ruining my plants.  I put some poison into the hole and then put some dirt over the opening.  Carson began singing, "I wuv you..." to try to get the vole to come out. Kids are so sweet.

Cam got a new Lego Minecraft set this week.  I had told him a while ago that he could set up Lego scenes and narrate a story to me that we could make into a book.  He really wanted to make a book from this new set.  He set up a dozen scenes and narrated Dragon Slayer to me.  He was so thrilled to make his own book!

An excerpt from the book reads, "I am Dragon Slayer.  I have an Ender Pearl and an enchanted bow and arrow.  And then, a zombie snuck up behind me.  I was super scared." (Jumping ahead) "This is what The End looks like.  See that crystal on top of that End Pillar? Do you know what that's for? The crystal is for when you hit the Ender Dragon with an arrow.  He'll take damage.  That is what The End Crystal comes in handy for.  The crystals heals the dragon." (Later) "I had finished the dragon with one last hit.  The dragon had fell to the ground. It had died." Intrigued?  You may just get a personal narration from the author himself next time you visit! :-)

Brit mentioned that when he played piano, his sock would get wet from the carpet.  We had to pull the piano out of the closet and rip up the carpet.  It was soaked.  Landon thinks it was the combination of something missing on the shower head, a lack of sealing around the shower handle, and long kid showers that made it drip into the wall.  Hopefully that's right because that'd be an easy fix.  Meanwhile, it looks like this.  Glad that Landon's handy because things like this could get really expensive if you had to pay someone else to take care of it.

It's been a huge help to have Marin and Sophie come on Mondays and Wednesdays.  They pretty much do all of Lexi and Carson's school work those days, which I greatly appreciate.  I was looking at the kids' school charts.  Since Brit has 8 things a day, Ty has 7 things a day, Cam has 5 things a day, and Lexi has 3-4 things a day, it's over 100 school items I have to make sure get done every week.  Thankfully, Brit does pretty much all of his on his own, but Ty needs me for half of the items and Carson and Lexi need me for almost every thing.  And that's just school work! It feels like a busy season of life for sure! 

 

We still have our Halloween pumpkins.  This week, Carson was moving them around. Some of them were pretty heavy.  "Hoo ah! {grunt} I willy big!" 

A little Sunday morning walk.  At the bottom of the slanted side walk, there are some big rocks.  Carson asked me to take a picture and then proceeded do burp during the pictures.  "Wet me see my burp!" I told him it wasn't a video but just a picture.  He seemed content looking at the pictures anyways,  "That's my burp!" This guy!

Notice Lexi's Elsa and Anna tennis shoes.  I have held out for a long time getting tennis shoes that are so blatantly character themed.  I think they're a bit much and tacky.  But I have realized that soon she will be too old to wear these types of things.  And since I only have one girl, and tacky as they may be, I want to embrace all these fun stages.  Bright shoes and all! Bonus: they light up :-)